tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62099366982917704452017-08-17T20:38:23.527-07:00Project Thesis NIUA Blog for Thesis and Dissertation WritersNIUThesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12871328672457055024noreply@blogger.comBlogger69125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209936698291770445.post-35861576555820881822017-08-04T14:32:00.000-07:002017-08-08T08:21:46.674-07:00Writing Services Ahead: Proceed with Caution<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Cg5CV_VDenc/WYTiyzR8xsI/AAAAAAAAAdo/v8VVrtz8WQguibjFg4Mh6YOrpY5HiLk3gCLcBGAs/s1600/600px-Caution_sign_used_on_roads_pn.svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="600" height="265" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Cg5CV_VDenc/WYTiyzR8xsI/AAAAAAAAAdo/v8VVrtz8WQguibjFg4Mh6YOrpY5HiLk3gCLcBGAs/s320/600px-Caution_sign_used_on_roads_pn.svg.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />“I’m thinking of hiring a writing service.” &nbsp;Imagine hearing those words from a fellow grad student who’s highly stressed about their thesis or dissertation. &nbsp;“Riding service?” you ask. &nbsp;Then you quickly realize your colleague isn’t talking about Lyft or Uber.<br /><br />Actually, the service in question is likely a person or business that offers—for a price—various types and levels of help with a writing project’s potentially stressful components: planning, revising, editing, proofreading, or formatting sections of the document. &nbsp;But then there are shady services that even offer to “help” with the writing by employing ghost writers to compose texts for paying clients. &nbsp;That’s taboo! &nbsp;Submitting academic work as one’s own when that work was actually made (entirely or in parts) by someone else is unacceptable. &nbsp;Words to the wise: if you’re thinking of paying for help with aspects of your writing project, beware of so-called writing services. &nbsp;(But, in some cases, you might want to consider working with an <i>editing</i> service.) &nbsp;If you wonder why we pass these words along, take a look through the comments sections at the ends of our blog posts. &nbsp; &nbsp; <br /><br /><b>Writing Services Galore</b><br /><br />We’re well aware that numerous paid writing firms exist because posts to this blog regularly attract brief comments with dubious hyperlinks to a wide range of such services. &nbsp;Consider the murky details behind comments received over the past two months:<br /><br />- On July 15, in response to our <a href="https://projectthesisniu.blogspot.com/2017/07/proquest-your-publisherand-more.html" target="_blank">July 7</a> post about ProQuest blogs, a few bits of generic praise came our way from someone at an eerily sparse blog. &nbsp;A hyperlink in the comment leads to the sketchy homepage of a UK-based company that entices the visitor to enter personal data and information about a writing project in order to receive an estimate on how much it will cost to have the firm do the work. &nbsp;<i>Not wanted!</i><br /><br />- On July 5, in response to our <a href="https://projectthesisniu.blogspot.com/2017/06/for-international-graduate-students-ins.html" target="_blank">June 16</a> post about services for international grad students at NIU, we received another short bromide, this time from someone whose “name” is a link to site featuring a disturbingly glowing review of an online firm that offers academic ghost writers for hire. &nbsp;<i>We’re not interested!</i><br /><br />- On June 19, in response to our <a href="https://projectthesisniu.blogspot.com/2017/06/writing-outside-healthy-now-and-for_2.html" target="_blank">June 2</a> post about taking writing outside, someone sent nice feedback with direct references to topics we wrote about. &nbsp;But then the letdown: the comment has no author’s name but is instead represented by a link to a website in Australia offering essays for sale. &nbsp;<i>We want nothing to do with such sites!</i><br /><br />- Finally, on July 21, in response to our <a href="https://projectthesisniu.blogspot.com/2017/05/fear-of-blank-page.html" target="_blank">May 19</a> post about facing the fear of the blank page, we received a positive comment from someone appearing to represent another essay-writing service. &nbsp;But this time, the attached link doesn’t lead to such a business but instead, oddly, to a 2015 article at&nbsp;<i>The Huffington Post</i> about the increase of undergraduate and graduate students paying to have papers written for them. &nbsp;The article points to an alarming trend.<br /><br />At Project Thesis NIU, we don’t endorse paid writing services. &nbsp;When doing routine blog maintenance, we eventually delete comments with hyperlinks to such services. &nbsp;In the past we’ve been inclined to let a comment with a suspect link stay as long as wording in the comment is remotely related to ideas we write about in a post. &nbsp;But now, after digging deeper into the above recent comments, we plan to delete anything associated with a writing service.<br /><br /><b>Editing Services: Wheat from the Chaff</b><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5cuHSWRYyvc/WYTiFlR2ipI/AAAAAAAAAdk/odFEy3G5weoeRBUzk4ag1PB51upBY0yPQCEwYBhgL/s1600/Example_of_copyedited_manuscript.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="337" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5cuHSWRYyvc/WYTiFlR2ipI/AAAAAAAAAdk/odFEy3G5weoeRBUzk4ag1PB51upBY0yPQCEwYBhgL/s400/Example_of_copyedited_manuscript.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>Aside from essay mills, many places offer student writers ethical and professional editorial assistance. &nbsp;Fee-based editing services tend not to publicize through brief comments to our blog posts. &nbsp;But they sometimes approach us. &nbsp;Several months ago, for instance, our office received a promotional piece in the mail from Editors for Students, a Minneapolis firm that specializes in academic editing, proofreading, and formatting. &nbsp;On their website, they mention that they have connections to academic institutions and are “committed to working within the legitimate boundaries of academic honesty.” &nbsp;Perhaps worth a look, if you’re interested in paying someone to review a draft. &nbsp;In addition, note that our office maintains a <a href="http://www.niu.edu/grad/thesis/pdf/freelancers.pdf" target="_blank">List of Freelance Formatters and Editors</a> who work in the DeKalb area and who are equipped to assist thesis and dissertation writers with NIU Graduate School guidelines. &nbsp;We can confidently refer these local freelancers to writers whose documents may need extensive help with matters of grammar and punctuation in addition to things like formatting of tables, figures, page numbers, citations, or end references. <br /><br /><b>Free NIU Services</b><br /><br />Also remember that NIU student writers can get constructive help with no extra fees attached. &nbsp;The <a href="http://www.niu.edu/uwc/" target="_blank">University Writing Center</a> is a free consultation service for students at all levels. &nbsp;We’ve heard that most of their clients in recent years have been grad students. &nbsp;Finally, come see us in the <a href="http://www.niu.edu/grad/thesis/" target="_blank">Thesis and Dissertation Office</a>! &nbsp;We provide free editorial assistance and expert help on formatting your important document. &nbsp;We’ll be happy to hear from you. <br /><br />Images Source: Wikimedia Commons<br /><div><br /></div>NIUThesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12871328672457055024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209936698291770445.post-5200311760226920672017-07-21T12:07:00.000-07:002017-07-26T09:40:08.279-07:00Working through Summer<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X4inf9hfdUU/WXiyzerxajI/AAAAAAAAAcY/zDd_2chP6Pk2_Xqq8_vwK8kzljgN1vOegCLcBGAs/s1600/70miles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X4inf9hfdUU/WXiyzerxajI/AAAAAAAAAcY/zDd_2chP6Pk2_Xqq8_vwK8kzljgN1vOegCLcBGAs/s320/70miles.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That one time I rode 70 miles RT to NIU <br />and back, because I didn't have a car.<br />I coulda gotten a ride, but what fun is that?<br />Nothing else going on in summer...</td></tr></tbody></table>On weekends when my kids were with their dad, I'd ride my bike up to the boat ramp and meet a friend who taught kayaking classes. I was the&nbsp;<i>sweep</i>, the person who kept everyone together and made sure they weren't upside-down. I could even rescue them if I had to. (Though none of them ever believed me when I told them this. I'm short and 115 lbs.) All those weekends behind the paddle earned me huge arms and dark shoulders, and about $40 a class. Not enough to pay the bills, but enough to have a taco afterward. The waitresses knew I'd sit outside, stinking from the river as I was. And maybe after that I could ride the bike to get bread and milk ALDI.<br /><br />This doesn't sound like the work life of someone with a master's degree. But it was. In the six summers since I began that degree, and now the doctorate, I've kayaked, waited tables, sung in a band, taught little kids to read, lifted boxes at a home improvement store, wrote product descriptions, designed industrial soap bottle labels, and tutored high school kids in creative writing for extra cash. Actually, for ALL the cash. There was no other cash in the summer, except for the coins I'd collect in a coffee can, and the occasional fifty my dad would mail me to put gas in the car. And sometimes, there was no car.<br /><br />As a graduate assistant at a state school, most of us don't get paid for about 3 1/2 months in the summer. And neither do most adjunct professors, anywhere. With most contingent academic contracts, the pay runs through the academic year. Every May 15, my stipend would dry up, and my adjunct paycheck would stop coming. And then the work stopped too. People stopped depending on me. Kids stopped accidentally calling me "professor." It hurt.<br /><br />One may think, "Well now you are freed up to get another job!" But it's not that simple. Losing the academic and teaching work hurts some of us just as much as losing the money. I want to discuss a few things about "working through summer," give my two cents as a veteran grad assistant, and solicit ideas from you.<br /><br />I think of summer as three things at work:<br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iSeC3ebBXEg/WXi0pHTqn0I/AAAAAAAAAco/ax-mTFVkIo4YL0uxdh9n4UFzSDF718IxwCLcBGAs/s1600/20427603_10155407463956163_81374012_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="720" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iSeC3ebBXEg/WXi0pHTqn0I/AAAAAAAAAco/ax-mTFVkIo4YL0uxdh9n4UFzSDF718IxwCLcBGAs/s200/20427603_10155407463956163_81374012_n.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That was no fun, that job.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b>Working for Money:</b>&nbsp;Maintaining your income (or at least part of it) is tricky, and finding a job that&nbsp;<span style="text-align: center;">fits is even trickier. I did not tell Menard's that I had a master's degree. I will not put teaching kayaking or even teaching little kids to read on my resume. So, should I do something that I can add to my C.V., like try to teach college summer school? Should I suck it up and put my little self to work in a warehouse and sock away normal workin'-(wo)man wages all summer? Or should I rest, and live out of the coffee can? The best summers I've had have been spent resting, with intermittent work.</span><br /><br />As you put some summers under your belt, there will be more and more opportunities for summer work, and even assistantships that span the year, or are summer GA gigs. Stay informed about opportunities on your campus. Ask your Graduate Director, and read the email newsletters. I am now, after all those miserable summers, on a 12-month contract thanks to a recommendation from the former Grad Director! (It doesn't make up for lost adjunct work though...the coin can abides.)<br /><b><br /></b><b>Working on Scholarship:</b>&nbsp;The summertime blues are further complicated if you are writing a thesis or dissertation. You HAVE to keep working on the school stuff all summer. Even if two-thirds of your committee is away in another country for two months (my actual current dilemma!). The library is not open late like it usually is. You are not on campus all the time, surrounded by other working students, your advisors, and the general productive buzz of the university. You lose touch with your tribe. It is easy to get out of every good habit that your work and social environment gives you.<br /><br />But you HAVE to keep at it. The whiteboard is my summer friend. I list everything I need to do, every day. (I make schedules on paper for the bigger picture.) Use methods like <a href="http://projectthesisniu.blogspot.com/2016/12/time-management-for-worst.html" target="_blank">Pomodoro</a> or <a href="http://projectthesisniu.blogspot.com/2017/04/writing-happens-step-by-step-day-by-day.html" target="_blank">"5 minutes a day"</a> to ensure even the tiniest steps are being taken toward your goals. &nbsp;This is a lonely, lonely time in the writing of the dissertation or thesis. Exercise, connect, read, or do whatever you need to to keep yourself grounded and healthy. But keep at it. You can pick up with advisors in the fall, and they will be happy you have something to share. Unlike with coursework and teaching work, professors (and the university) do expect you to be at work on the thesis or dissertation year-round. This is so hard, I know. But don't forget about it in your struggle to keep food on the table and keep the kids in pool passes.<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-N0xCRg2IPsA/WXixV4ILwkI/AAAAAAAAAcM/68QRwdzaGowNTOAJWqTpATxdqlgugss9ACLcBGAs/s1600/coinjar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="922" data-original-width="642" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-N0xCRg2IPsA/WXixV4ILwkI/AAAAAAAAAcM/68QRwdzaGowNTOAJWqTpATxdqlgugss9ACLcBGAs/s320/coinjar.jpg" width="222" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Three summers ago, this is <br />literally what my coin jar was for.</td></tr></tbody></table><b>Working on Yourself -- the Professional Identity Crisis:</b><br />I have a few colleagues of quality who do not experience this, and who are happy to "live out of the can" and rest for a long spell. That seems like the sane thing to do! But many of us grad students are driven in a way that can't be powered down. It's a blessing during the school year, and a curse during breaks. Personally, when I lose my titles (instructor, "professor," committee member, etc.), I lose a little bit of myself. I wear cut-offs around town and quick-dry shorts to kayak and no one addresses me with anything like deference. I become a nobody, and a poor nobody. Taking demeaning jobs, as I sometimes have, only reinforces this. If I had the pay or the position I might be happy to lounge around and dress like a slob for awhile. Who cares what anyone thinks? But when you are still crossing the impostor syndrome threshold, have $7 in your bank account, and realize that it's your former student putting milk and eggs in your cart at the food pantry (that happened), life is hard. And you're not sure where you fit. Don't forget that this is only temporary. You are working through summer for a very good reason.<br /><br /><b>In conclusion</b><br /><br />I will make it through, like so many of my colleagues before me. And you can too! I'm looking at a May 2019 graduation with a Ph. D. (It will take me a year longer than it will take most of my cohort. I'm the only one with kids, and that's my standing excuse.) That means I have less than a summer and a half remaining of squeezing by, wallowing in existential crisis, rolling coins, and forcing myself to work alone. &nbsp;As painful as it has been to work through all these summers, now that I can see the end of it coming, I know it will all be worth it. I already have great memories of pool time with the kids (paid for in sweaty cash), bike rides to the ice cream shop, and my daughter's August birthday parties. Look at that! I'm already forgetting the terrible jobs and summer insecurities.<br /><br />Now if I can just make it till Tuesday when I get paid for my band's last gig...<br /><br />To misquote T.S. Eliot: August is the cruellest month. Let's survive it, let's work through it, and let's all look forward to September's welcome return. <br /><br />How do&nbsp;<i>you</i>&nbsp;work through summer?NIUThesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12871328672457055024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209936698291770445.post-74442185430803283232017-07-07T10:06:00.001-07:002017-07-07T10:07:41.424-07:00ProQuest: Your Publisher...and More<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NLEvjf9xmL8/WV-56zSzCZI/AAAAAAAAAb0/opJxjdMR_LE7t-pqwqtGMFdWtysHj8trwCLcBGAs/s1600/DARPA_Big_Data.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="826" data-original-width="1280" height="257" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NLEvjf9xmL8/WV-56zSzCZI/AAAAAAAAAb0/opJxjdMR_LE7t-pqwqtGMFdWtysHj8trwCLcBGAs/s400/DARPA_Big_Data.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Picture yourself near your project’s end.&nbsp; Writing completed and defense successful, you move on to the long-anticipated last step.&nbsp; That is, you upload your document for final review to <a href="http://www.proquest.com/" target="_blank">ProQuest</a>.&nbsp; For a number of reasons, that shouldn’t be your only experience with this company.&nbsp; <br /><br />Actually, through reading and research during your time in your program, you’re probably already fairly familiar with ProQuest, a company that traces its history&nbsp;back&nbsp;to 1873.&nbsp; They maintain numerous online research databases, including <a href="http://search.proquest.com/pqdtglobal/advanced?accountid=12846" target="_blank">ProQuest Dissertations &amp; Theses Global</a>, the world’s largest collection of digitized dissertations and theses—and the future host of the degree-qualifying document you’ll finish here at NIU.&nbsp; But ProQuest’s many other offerings for researchers, educators, and students are worth checking out during any stage of your research and writing.&nbsp; <br /><br /><strong><em>GradShare</em></strong><br /><br />I was somewhat surprised to discover that, along with its many research databases, ProQuest maintains five blogs, each geared for a specific academic clientele: <a href="http://www.proquest.com/blog/pqblog/" target="_blank">ProQuest Blog</a> (concerning research databases), <a href="http://internationalnews.proquest.com/" target="_blank">International Blogs</a> (academic news in multiple languages other than English), <a href="http://www.proquest.com/blog/mfl/" target="_blank">Magazines for Libraries Update</a> (details on scholarly journals), <a href="http://blogs.proquest.com/" target="_blank">Share This</a> (ideas for schoolteachers), and <a href="http://www.proquest.com/blog/gradshare/" target="_blank">GradShare</a>.&nbsp; Concerns of graduate students take center stage in this last one.&nbsp; Primarily addressed to writers of dissertations and theses, GradShare features brief but informative posts on researching, planning, composing, and completing the big project.&nbsp; Several of the entries complement ideas we’ve written about here at Project Thesis NIU.&nbsp; Others unique to GradShare are worth a look right away, namely: <br /><br /><a href="http://www.proquest.com/blog/gradshare/2016/How-to-Write-the-Best-Dissertation-2.html" target="_blank">How to Write the Best Dissertation</a>:&nbsp; Parts 1 and 2 of this post give helpful drafting guidelines and general advice for those at the start or in the middle of their projects.&nbsp; If you’re in those stages, spend a few moments going through these November 2016 posts, which also happen to be the most recent entries&nbsp;to GradShare because the blog is currently on hiatus.&nbsp; (We recently contacted Devin McGinty at ProQuest to check on the blog’s status, and he told us GradShare will be publishing again in the near future.)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br /><br /><a href="http://www.proquest.com/blog/gradshare/2015/Do-you-have-questions-about-a-dissertation-order.html" target="_blank">Answers to Questions about Dissertation Orders</a>:&nbsp; This especially informative post from December 2015 features links to pages that answer frequently asked questions about ordering theses and dissertations through ProQuest.&nbsp; A bonus: it also has a link to a review of the important procedures for uploading your document to the company—the glorious last step of the thesis or dissertation journey.&nbsp; Several of the questions dealt with here are remarkably similar to ones students regularly bring to&nbsp;the Thesis Office at NIU.<br /><span style="color: white;">.</span><br /><a href="http://www.proquest.com/blog/gradshare/2014/Movie-Review-The-PhD-Movie.html" target="_blank">Review of <em>The PhD Movie</em></a>:&nbsp; Movies really can be about anything!&nbsp; In 2011, Jorge Cham, creator of <em>“Piled Higher and Deeper”</em> (<a href="http://phdcomics.com/comics.php" target="_blank">PhD Comics</a>), produced a feature based on the comic strip titled, you guessed it, <em>Piled Higher and Deeper</em>.&nbsp; In 2014, Devin McGinty reviewed the film on GradShare.&nbsp; “Sometimes the best ideas arise when we are distracted,” McGinty writes at the end of his enthusiastic review, “so the solution to your academic problems could be a bowl of popcorn and <em>The PhD Movie</em>.&nbsp; Enjoy!”&nbsp; In 2015, Cham produced a follow-up film titled <em>The PhD Movie 2: Still in Grad School</em>.&nbsp; Check out the trailers, stills, and other information about the two films at the producer’s <a href="https://www.phdmovie.com/" target="_blank">website</a>.&nbsp; If you happen to see the second film, perhaps you might want to share your take on it with a wide audience in the form of a review of your own, which leads to another&nbsp;attractive feature&nbsp;of GradShare: you’re invited to post there.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.proquest.com/blog/gradshare/2015/The-GradShare-Blog-is-Looking-for-Guest-Bloggers.html" target="_blank">Guest Bloggers Wanted</a>:&nbsp; This post from March 2016 invited grad students anywhere to send in a post of 500 to 750 words on a topic of one’s own choosing.&nbsp; A review of the second PhD&nbsp;film would likely be a welcome submission.&nbsp; But other topics would certainly also be of interest.&nbsp; (And if you do happen to see&nbsp;the second film and write a review of it, and for some reason you can’t get it to GradShare, we’ll be happy to receive your review for consideration as a guest post on Project Thesis NIU.&nbsp; Send submissions as an attachment to <a href="mailto:thesis@niu.edu">thesis@niu.edu</a>.)<br /><span style="color: white;">.</span><br /><strong>Final Words</strong><br /><br />In short, GradShare and other ProQuest blogs&nbsp;can provide helpful supplementary&nbsp;information to the points we pass on to graduate students at&nbsp;this blog.&nbsp; Happy reading and researching of all kinds, through ProQuest and beyond!<br /><br />Image Source: Wikimedia CommonsNIUThesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12871328672457055024noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209936698291770445.post-83972353405580940712017-06-16T09:39:00.000-07:002017-06-16T09:39:37.234-07:00For International Graduate Students: The Ins and Outs at NIU<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iZE_KagdnQg/WUQHwKLFtuI/AAAAAAAAAbc/Bxtq488Nxg0yX09-cZO780N9So6Xv9RAQCLcBGAs/s1600/banner-intl-students.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="363" data-original-width="848" height="170" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iZE_KagdnQg/WUQHwKLFtuI/AAAAAAAAAbc/Bxtq488Nxg0yX09-cZO780N9So6Xv9RAQCLcBGAs/s400/banner-intl-students.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Writing a thesis or dissertation is one of the hardest things you may ever do. Doing so in another country, in another language, is even harder!<br /><br />At NIU we offer an holistic and supportive international graduate student experience, focused not only on your education, but your cultural enrichment and lifelong learning. &nbsp;From offering financial support, to emotional, social, and professionalization support, our mission is to help you finish your thesis or dissertation and move on to make your mark on the world.<br /><br />At the Thesis and Dissertation Office, we see many students from Saudi Arabia, China, India, and Latin America (and all over!). We are aware of your unique challenges and bumps in the road that make writing your thesis a difficult journey.<br /><br />Some challenges our students face are:<br /><br /><ul><li>Language barriers</li><li>Student Visa requirements (completing the thesis on-time)</li><li>Understanding Graduate School policies</li><li>Lacking a social network at school</li></ul><br />For current and prospective students, getting acquainted with NIU's support services is the place to start.<br /><b><br /></b><b>The Nuts and Bolts</b><br /><br />The International Student Faculty Office (ISFO) is where you can find all of the information, forms, advisor contacts, and immigration help you need for becoming an international graduate student, and maintaining your status. &nbsp;Additionally, the Graduate School website has a page dedicated to international admissions. These pages will help you understand the "ins and outs" of doing graduate work and completing a thesis here:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.niu.edu/isfo/index.shtml" target="_blank">International Student and Faculty Office</a><br /><a href="http://www.grad.niu.edu/grad/admissions/international/index.shtml" target="_blank"><br /></a><a href="http://www.grad.niu.edu/grad/admissions/international/index.shtml" target="_blank">The Graduate School: International Students</a><br /><br /><b>The Fun Stuff!</b><br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gzKCGDRo1bE/WUQEGe2qd6I/AAAAAAAAAbU/Bk-BQVgYDucjoru-UPh6gb9LPeNujLgXACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1106.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="898" data-original-width="1600" height="179" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gzKCGDRo1bE/WUQEGe2qd6I/AAAAAAAAAbU/Bk-BQVgYDucjoru-UPh6gb9LPeNujLgXACLcBGAs/s320/IMG_1106.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marcos Quezada and Pablo Suarez, <br />founders of NIU's Global Friends Network</td></tr></tbody></table>Knowing how to make social connections, find mentors, and participate in our global community at NIU is as important to your success as actually doing the work. As we have discussed <b><a href="http://projectthesisniu.blogspot.com/2016/10/building-your-tribe-again-and-again.html" target="_blank">on this blog</a></b>, having a group of friends or colleagues who are going through the same unique journey as you are is crucial to maintaining interest in your work, and keeping a level head about it! &nbsp;Explore the student associations and mentorship opportunities such as the Global Friends Network, as well as events and scholarship programs at the Division of International Affairs website:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.niu.edu/international/index.shtml" target="_blank">Division of International Affairs</a><br /><br /><b>Some Recommendations</b><br /><br />Remember, you may feel alone, and you may feel like you are doing the most difficult thing you have ever done. Only one of those things is true! The global NIU community is here for you, and the Thesis and Dissertation Office is part of that community. &nbsp;We are your go-to for any questions about completing your thesis, but we are also a resource for navigating graduate school in general. Our office is staffed with Graduate Assistants who are writing their dissertations, and our events and programs attract students from many countries who are trying to do the same thing. So remember to:<br /><br /><ul><li>Network through the <a href="http://www.niu.edu/isfo/programs/Social%20Involvement.shtml" target="_blank">social groups</a> for international students</li><li>Seek help when you need it! If you don't know where to go, ask us.</li><li>Educate yourself by exploring the links we've provided.</li></ul><div>We want you to succeed!</div><br /><br />To end, a message and interview with some international students:<br /><br /><a href="http://northernpublicradio.org/post/international-students-niu-perspective" target="_blank">International Students at NIU: A Perspective</a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xD2uH57-eH0/WUQHfS0wE6I/AAAAAAAAAbY/kUx5LWxUOZ4QmJdD3dvImHfoflovEwcRACLcBGAs/s1600/banner-home.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="514" data-original-width="1200" height="171" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xD2uH57-eH0/WUQHfS0wE6I/AAAAAAAAAbY/kUx5LWxUOZ4QmJdD3dvImHfoflovEwcRACLcBGAs/s400/banner-home.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br />NIUThesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12871328672457055024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209936698291770445.post-44343702622357104952017-06-02T17:59:00.001-07:002017-08-04T14:42:27.257-07:00Writing Outside: Healthy Now and for the Long Haul<span style="color: black;"></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kvMmsz_2ufg/WTGd9Oy1eUI/AAAAAAAAAa4/5ypLDWhOH4EI_PwToCGWUjf2DFaZVfqbQCEw/s1600/2017_06010015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kvMmsz_2ufg/WTGd9Oy1eUI/AAAAAAAAAa4/5ypLDWhOH4EI_PwToCGWUjf2DFaZVfqbQCEw/s400/2017_06010015.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Composing al fresco, Shabbona Lake State Park</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;"></span></div><br /><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span>In our last post, we shared several helpful ways to overcome the terror of the blank page and fill it with words.&nbsp; Here we offer a somewhat related tip: often you can effectively recharge your writing by taking it outside. <br /><br /><strong>Outside?</strong><br /><strong></strong><br />Absolutely.&nbsp; In the fresh air, under natural light.&nbsp; Preferably somewhere relatively open so that walls don’t separate you from the expanse of your natural surroundings.&nbsp; At nearly any stage of the thesis or dissertation, you can benefit from spending quality time in open-air settings that are suitable for relaxing but also walking, running, and cycling.&nbsp; You may question the idea of bringing anything related to your project to such locales.&nbsp; Yet this approach can often be just what you and your writing need, especially during times your progress slows down or your energy runs low.<br /><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong>Why?<o:p></o:p></strong></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Introducing your writing to outdoor settings can restore its vigor and rebalance your approach to it.&nbsp; The thesis or dissertation tends to keep you indoors and narrowly focused for long stretches.&nbsp; Granted, most of the work requires a lot of desk time.&nbsp; But too much of that can dull your body, mind, and ultimately your writing.&nbsp; Although there are many ways to take breaks, spending time outside can be especially rejuvenating.&nbsp; “In the woods, is perpetual youth.”&nbsp; Ralph Waldo Emerson offered that statement in his 1836 essay <em>Nature</em> as a way of introducing perhaps his most celebrated image dealing with the individual and the outdoors: “Standing on the bare ground,—my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space,—all mean egotism vanishes.&nbsp; I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all.”&nbsp; Fanciful interpretations aside, Emerson’s idea hints at what you and your project can gain through outdoor excursions.&nbsp; Certainly there is much to see and appreciate in nature.&nbsp; But getting out in it can also help you see and appreciate your growing text more clearly.<o:p></o:p></div><br /><strong>How?</strong><br /><strong></strong><br />Among the many approaches to taking writing outside,&nbsp;the following are useful for immediate gain as well as long-term success:<br /><br /><em>Meditation on the Move</em>.&nbsp; Here you explore your thoughts about your writing (or anything else) while traversing outdoor surroundings on foot or bicycle.&nbsp; This approach is particularly helpful during drafting and revising stages, that is, while you’re building and/or rearranging ideas.&nbsp; As noted in a <a href="http://projectthesisniu.blogspot.com/2017/05/staying-in-love-with-your-thesis-or.html" target="_blank">previous blog post</a>, the term for this approach comes from writer and long-distance-running enthusiast <a href="http://www.joehenderson.com/ebooks/" target="_blank">Joe Henderson</a>.&nbsp; Fundamental to it is the principle that time spent thinking and moving is more important than mere distance covered: thus, aiming to get outside for 1 to 2 hours is better than aiming to complete a certain number of laps or miles.&nbsp; As you meditate on the move, it also helps to note beings and objects in the distance, such as birds on branches, fish under water (often quite visible in certain sections of the Kish south of the NIU campus), clumps of faraway trees, or clouds on the horizon.&nbsp; In addition to helping you stretch your mind, such distance viewing can give a welcome break to your eyes, which already spend plenty of time narrowly focused on words, pages, and screens.<br /><br /><em>Outdoor Journaling</em>.&nbsp; During a walk, run, or ride, stopping to make notes in a journal can be a very rewarding practice.&nbsp; A journal allows you to put down ideas on the spot that might not come back to you when you later return to your indoor writing.&nbsp; Out in nature, a pen and a pad of paper can reassert their handiness as writing tools.&nbsp; Natural light can reengage your interest in your handwriting as well as the thoughts you express in it.&nbsp; Of course, instead of such quaint holdovers from yesteryear, you could&nbsp;bring along an electronic writing gizmo.&nbsp; But since you’re going outside partly to break away from routine, why not also temporarily disengage from such devices?&nbsp; When you get down to it, working with writing on a screen outdoors, no matter how much you move in or out of the shade or adjust brightness settings, tends to be cumbersome and is often counterproductive.<br />&nbsp; <br /><em>Write by Windows</em>.&nbsp; Luckily, even while still working indoors, you’re generally never too far from nature.&nbsp; Thus, obviously the quickest way to engage your writing with the outside world is to move to a nearby window and open it.&nbsp; (Yes, even in cold weather.)&nbsp; Simply composing by an open window can remarkably restore connections with your broader surroundings and thus ultimately also help revivify your writing.&nbsp; It can also encourage you to venture further afield and take up some of the tips detailed above.<br /><br />Wishing you continued success with your project as we head into the&nbsp;summer, perhaps the best season for taking your writing outside!﻿﻿﻿﻿<br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div style="text-align: right;"><br /></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div><br /></div></div>NIUThesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12871328672457055024noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209936698291770445.post-33023330703481984172017-05-19T11:57:00.000-07:002017-05-31T12:01:28.247-07:00Fear of the Blank Page<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XxM0P74uEoI/WR9HsrOJGGI/AAAAAAAAAaE/oaPmIf1gMQECG1q4eVxuD5CCEwdb_ag1QCLcB/s1600/3bec4-fearofwriting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="494" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XxM0P74uEoI/WR9HsrOJGGI/AAAAAAAAAaE/oaPmIf1gMQECG1q4eVxuD5CCEwdb_ag1QCLcB/s640/3bec4-fearofwriting.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We've all been there. In fact, I was there until about three seconds ago.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">No matter what kind of writing we do, whether we're consummate wordsmiths or grammar-phobic mathematicians, the blank page is, as one Modernist writer called it, "The face of fear." While we meet many other faces of fear along the way to completing a thesis or dissertation (procrastination, stalled research, critical advisors...), simply <i>getting started</i> causes its own unique terror. But there are several simple ways to overcome this phenomenon.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">How to Vanquish the Blank Page</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">&nbsp;1. &nbsp;Put some words on it. This is the simplest way you can lessen the starkness of a white screen. &nbsp;Something about empty white space instills fear in us, and of course it hurts our eyes too. Really: simply type out a working title. Format a table of contents or dash off an acknowledgements page. Or paste in your bibliography and begin to edit it. &nbsp;Any of these little tasks not only fill the page with quite a bit of text, but it will get you comfortable with sitting with THAT document. (You know the one.)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">2. Use a blue blocker, especially after sunset. Reducing the blue light in your life is good for your overall health, but it also decreases the whiteness (read: scariness!) of the screen. You can buy a physical screen blocker or download an app.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">3. Trust that every little step leads to the next one. &nbsp;You don't have to begin at the beginning! When I began the draft of my dissertation prospectus (so we're talking <i>draft</i> and <i>prospectus</i>... not even the real deal), I was terrified. So, I started with the low-hanging fruit. Did I know how to write a contextual history of the topic I'd barely begun to research? No. Did I even know what methodology I would use? No. So, I began by pasting in my bibliography, cleaning it up, and formatting it. I learned from that exercise which sources were most important to me. Then I was able to write a methodology (i.e. which literary texts I would research and using which sources). &nbsp;Once I did that, I was homed in on a topic, and better suited to write the introductory paragraphs of the proposal. &nbsp;And, if I had had to write a literature review, I wouldn't have been able to do that until I'd read everything for the rest of the proposal. Every simple task teaches you something that helps with the harder tasks.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">4. Type up your notes. You've already written or typed out ideas, observations, and reactions as you read or researched. Paste those ideas into an outline. The outline can be loose! Whenever you write a first draft, it's just a draft. You can make it pretty later. &nbsp;Seeing all your thoughts in one place, and connecting them with the tissue of a paper-structure (however tentative it may be) gives you a framework for imagining your paper.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">5. Actually use your imagination. True story: When writing up prospective chapter outlines in my proposal, I asked my advisor, "So, I just imagine the chapter I hope to have written and describe it? Like I'm describing the best chapter I can imagine?" <i>Yes</i>, she said. &nbsp;Use your right brain to power through those crippling left brain moments. At some point you have to make your imaginary dissertation into reality (and edit the unicorns out of Chapter 2...), but visualizing it helps make it happen.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">These are the tricks I'm currently using to make <i>my</i> dissertation happen. &nbsp;What frightens you about writing? And how do you find ways to overcome the fear of getting started?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RbBUgyTW55M/WR9HsgaZYlI/AAAAAAAAAaA/hTJMbfieFwQOOvqcDLdgniVCYH2fCh4SgCLcB/s1600/scary-king.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RbBUgyTW55M/WR9HsgaZYlI/AAAAAAAAAaA/hTJMbfieFwQOOvqcDLdgniVCYH2fCh4SgCLcB/s320/scary-king.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />NIUThesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12871328672457055024noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209936698291770445.post-11093758558116461622017-05-05T17:22:00.002-07:002017-05-05T18:23:27.247-07:00Staying in Love with Your Thesis or Dissertation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nvkfR09s0KA/WQ0BnF_eTOI/AAAAAAAAAZc/a6PPKRp-TYQBBOi4Bk8i2CemKidLnB6WgCLcB/s1600/love-of-books.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nvkfR09s0KA/WQ0BnF_eTOI/AAAAAAAAAZc/a6PPKRp-TYQBBOi4Bk8i2CemKidLnB6WgCLcB/s400/love-of-books.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Exams passed, proposal approved, and you happily move forward with your writing project.&nbsp; The growing relationship between you and your significant document draws on several forces, not least passion and devotion.&nbsp; For some writers, these forces never waver and may even increase over time.&nbsp; Yet&nbsp;other writers can face&nbsp;weary stretches due to a fading of that initial spark.&nbsp; How does it happen?&nbsp; How can writers stay enthralled with their thesis or dissertation?&nbsp; This post mainly goes out to those of you who&nbsp;ponder such questions.&nbsp; But it also offers helpful bits even to those convinced from the outset that they&nbsp;will blissfully go the distance—and those thrilled to be nearing their project’s final stages.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br /><br /><strong>Prime Factors Behind Burnout</strong><br /><br />Waning enthusiasm over the course of such a long undertaking can result from many things.&nbsp; You deal with certain matters beyond your control, such as outside commitments to work or family, schedules of your committee, or availability of resources for research, experiments, or data analysis.&nbsp; But most important are your own contributing thoughts and emotions, internal matters that can press acutely but that you can likely address more readily.&nbsp; Such as:<br /><em></em><br /><em>Doubts about your progress.&nbsp; </em>Uncertainties about the development of your lengthy document can crop up during writing slumps and delays.&nbsp; You may also harbor doubts while waiting for feedback on chapters from your readers—or, after receiving feedback, while acting on requests for changes or revisions, major&nbsp;and minor.&nbsp; <br /><br /><em>Concerns that what you’re doing is trivial</em>.&nbsp; Such concerns partner with the so-called imposter syndrome.&nbsp; They may&nbsp;cause you to reconsider the theory or methodology you’re applying to your endeavor.&nbsp; You may ponder tweaking your approach, revisiting your proposal, or even&nbsp;stripping away at the foundations of the entire&nbsp;affair. <br /><br /><em>Temptations to pull the plug.&nbsp; </em>These can accompany outbursts like “I’m&nbsp;sick and tired of this whole thing.”&nbsp; Probably not the exact words of any contemporary American grad student, and most likely not always true about all parts of the undertaking.&nbsp; For example, in the case of my dissertation,&nbsp;the literary texts I’m writing about are, to me, endlessly fascinating and enjoyable.&nbsp; But let’s face it: even re-examining stuff you like can eventually become draining.&nbsp; Outside the context of language and literary research, important supporting tasks like tabulating results, running statistical tests, or transcribing interviews can each get tedious.&nbsp; Any project requiring long stretches of deep thought, creativity, intense focus, and adherence to&nbsp;standards and guidelines inevitably leads to exhaustion.<br /><br /><strong>Some Solutions</strong><br /><br />OK, so what to do about all this?&nbsp; Among the many possible courses of action, the following three seem eminently achievable:<br /><br /><em>Revisit work that brought you to your project</em>.&nbsp; Look back at previous&nbsp;studies or research relevant to your current doings—or&nbsp;at things not directly related to them.&nbsp; This&nbsp;experience may help remind you of what drew you to your project in the first place or point out approaches to it you may not have considered yet.<br /><br /><em>Talk about your project</em>.&nbsp; Although your ultimate aim is to arrange your ideas in writing, talking them over with others can help you maintain momentum and flow, rediscover what excites you about your project, and see what others find interesting in it.&nbsp; The first person to turn to is your director, who knows your project well but is still one step removed from the composition process and, therefore, able to rekindle your sense of its strengths and significance.&nbsp; Certainly you can also approach your committee readers for similar feedback.&nbsp; Friends and family members can be good sounding boards, even if they’ve already heard a lot from you about your various compositional ups and downs.&nbsp; Also consider the benefits of sharing your project’s aims with new acquaintances in your department, across campus, and at academic conferences.&nbsp; I recently traveled to a large national conference, where I presented a portion of my dissertation research, attended several panels on topics relevant to it, and took in few&nbsp;that were distantly related.&nbsp; The trip was a brief but helpful break from the writing.&nbsp; It gave me welcome chances to meet and talk about what I’m doing with grad students and faculty from other institutions.&nbsp; I came back refreshed and reenergized.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br /><br /><em>Take&nbsp;regular breaks</em>.&nbsp; Needed diversions from your largely indoor endeavor should be regular and clearly distinguished from&nbsp;your main tasks at hand.&nbsp; Getting outside, especially now that the weather is turning sunnier and warmer, can&nbsp;do wonders for your writing,&nbsp;thinking, and overall enthusiasm for your project.&nbsp; Such sessions of “meditation on the move,” a term writer and runner <a href="http://www.joehenderson.com/" target="_blank">Joe&nbsp;Henderson</a> has applied to&nbsp;recreational long-distance running, will be&nbsp;explored in a future post on taking your writing outside.&nbsp; Look for&nbsp;it in the coming weeks.&nbsp; Until then, happy writing!&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UltZtCIh1zg/WQ0B0Jxom7I/AAAAAAAAAZg/d-mnVSPbo_s---cAiEAjsf5r47ujozxVACLcB/s1600/P1080808.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UltZtCIh1zg/WQ0B0Jxom7I/AAAAAAAAAZg/d-mnVSPbo_s---cAiEAjsf5r47ujozxVACLcB/s400/P1080808.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Meditation on the Move, Southwest of the NIU Campus</td></tr></tbody></table><br />NIUThesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12871328672457055024noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209936698291770445.post-61500386169738398972017-04-21T09:48:00.000-07:002017-04-26T09:54:37.838-07:00A First-Generation Academic"First-Generation College Student" is a label proudly worn by many undergraduates at NIU. These students used to be the minority. But since the twentieth century's Civil Rights movement and resultant anti-discriminatory provisions ensured everyone a fair shot at education, and since increased government funding and loans enabled more and more students to eke out some tuition, students from all walks of life have flocked to universities and community colleges to do better than their parents did. As an instructor, I am aware of their unique challenges. And I am also aware of their unique advantages; they bring to the culture of the university a fresh outlook and a profound appreciation for the opportunity to learn. &nbsp;However, their challenges sometimes outweigh their eagerness and talent, and many do not complete degrees.<br /><br />While this is a big problem for first-generation students, it is an even bigger problem for first-generation academics. &nbsp;Those of us who come in as first-generation, complete that bachelor's degree, and then stick around for <i>more</i> degrees... well, we are not only entering the realm of university life without much direction, we are entering a culture in which a very small percentage of Americans ever participate. &nbsp;Academia is its own beast. So the stick-tuitive-ness that got us our bachelor's degrees is not necessarily enough to finish a masters thesis, and certainly not enough to push us through the drudgery that is Ph. D. work and dissertation writing. We need a special kind of help. But no one really knows what to do for us.<br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OlUIDkTZ54c/WQDOpSlZmoI/AAAAAAAAAZA/gedKeYSw0jc_y5BsFJ_uDWRZBabaUQ8JACLcB/s1600/carinne-peers-deeds-2-300x261.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OlUIDkTZ54c/WQDOpSlZmoI/AAAAAAAAAZA/gedKeYSw0jc_y5BsFJ_uDWRZBabaUQ8JACLcB/s1600/carinne-peers-deeds-2-300x261.jpeg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">But...we're so alone!</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Scores of extensive, longitudinal studies have been done on the first-generation college student. Those kids have been around for some time! But the first-generation academic is still a somewhat rare anomaly. Also, the amount of time it takes to produce one of us (years upon years of coursework, going back to school after taking breaks, part-time work while having kids, etc.) means the data just isn't there or hasn't been collected yet, that is,<b>&nbsp;extensive data on who finishes, who achieves success in academia, and what kinds of services, attitudes, or funding, got them through all of it. &nbsp;This is something that needs to be studied, both for the success of these students and for ensuring that the future fields of technology, education, health, and others, can benefit from an increasingly diverse pool of talents.&nbsp;</b><br /><br />Quite frankly, <b>I think that first-generation academics are the key to revitalizing the stagnating university model. We can innovate how we do research in a budget crisis.</b>&nbsp;<b>We can engage with the community outside of academia and bring our discoveries to bear on the "real world."</b>&nbsp;There, I said it. <i>Academia needs us!</i>&nbsp;Or it might just perish. &nbsp;Nowhere is navel-gazing stronger than academia, a group that can cut itself off from the struggles of the world (and of their students) by living, working, and socializing among their university bubble. But this phenomenon of the academic enclave does not apply to blue-collar and low-income academics. I take offence when any blue-collar type tries to accuse <i>me</i> of being out of touch, just because I'm doing a Ph. D. ...Sorry, guy, I'm living in your "real world" every damn day. And I can also think abstractly! :D<br /><br />While the studies are lacking, the stories are not. In fact, our Thesis Office Director, Carolyn Law, published a book entitled <i>This Fine Place so Far from Home,</i> a collection of personal accounts and essays from first-generation academics working in the 1990s. &nbsp;The pieces range from opinionated, to irreverent, to poignant. &nbsp;You can check it out <a href="http://www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/1024_reg.html" target="_blank">here, at Temple University Press.</a><br /><br />Think about it -- college is a defining experience for many people. But a <i>decade</i> of college and then a <i>*life*</i> at the university is, well, your entire life! When no one in your family or inner circle has any experience with college, let alone designing experiments and writing monographs, this can mean that not only is your college journey a lonely and confusing thing, but so is the life of the mind to which it leads you. Even the most supportive families can only offer hollow messages of encouragement -- they literally have no idea what we're doing. &nbsp;Blue-collar scholars, like the ones in Law's book, speak of not being able to fit in anywhere -- afraid of being found out at the university, afraid of getting made fun of at home. (And of course, saddled with the debt of climbing out of the lower classes.) How do we address this? What can universities do to help us find a balance? And, perhaps more importantly, what can they do to ensure that our unique voices are not drowned out by the ideas of the privileged, established scholars?<br /><br />Let us know in the comments of anything you've read on this. Or tell us about your experience!<br /><br />Yours Truly,<br />Daughter of a Truck Driver, M.A.<br /><br />NIUThesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12871328672457055024noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209936698291770445.post-23035215096317727992017-04-07T09:26:00.000-07:002017-04-19T09:13:42.411-07:00Writing Happens Step by Step, Day by Day <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O8MOVG9L6XM/WOetM-XhrnI/AAAAAAAAAYo/W5Sgpj3xowcH2od4zbGhZ_DRDjdlLlSXgCLcB/s1600/Writer%2527s_Block_I.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O8MOVG9L6XM/WOetM-XhrnI/AAAAAAAAAYo/W5Sgpj3xowcH2od4zbGhZ_DRDjdlLlSXgCLcB/s400/Writer%2527s_Block_I.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />“So…how’s that writing coming along?”&nbsp; It seems the longer you’re engaged in your project, the more often this question—or one like it—finds a way into conversations with colleagues, friends, and family.&nbsp; For insights on writing progress and occasional writing delays, below we share a few sources of wisdom from a little beyond the well-traveled paths.<br /><span style="color: white;">.</span><br /><strong>“Avoidant Syndrome”?</strong><br /><span style="color: white;">.</span><br />Writers sometimes hit snags.&nbsp; Perhaps you find yourself lingering over getting a part of your project started—or, even after starting on it, getting stuck and staying that way for a noticeable while.&nbsp; Are you avoiding pressing tasks at hand?&nbsp; Maybe.&nbsp; But not all writing delays simply boil down to avoidance.&nbsp; Writing can slow or come to a stop due to multiple factors, some beyond the writer’s control.&nbsp; Yet if you experience a lengthy writing block that feels closely bound to thoughts of dodging criticism or rejection of your work, perhaps you’re flirting with what some call The Avoidant Syndrome.<br /><br />I’m adapting the above terms and ideas, by the way, not so much from experience as from information about writing stoppage found on the detailed Website of <a href="https://www.artsanonymous.org/" target="_blank">A.R.T.S. Anonymous</a>, an organization I hadn’t heard of until very recently.&nbsp; As you might guess from their name, they’re a support group for creative people modeled on organizations that guide members as they follow a twelve-step program to recovery—the acronym in their name stands for Artists Recovering through the Twelve Steps.&nbsp; OK, quick disclaimer.&nbsp; My aim here is <strong>not</strong> to promote or question A.R.T.S. Anonymous (or any similar twelve-step programs).&nbsp; Instead, I want to point out some of the principles that inform the way this support group treats the creative process and creative blocks, which share a few things in common with the writing process and writing blocks.&nbsp; These principles can be of some use to anyone working toward completing a thesis or dissertation, perhaps the longest and most vexing writing project a grad student may ever face. <br /><span style="color: white;">.</span><br /><strong>Useful Insights </strong><br /><span style="color: white;">.</span><br /><em>Process, Not Product</em>:&nbsp; A.R.T.S. Anonymous outlines a path toward creative success in their list of <a href="https://www.artsanonymous.org/about-arts/twelve-talents/" target="_blank">Twelve Talents for a Good Life</a>.&nbsp; Item 11 in the list stresses that the creative process itself—rather than the product eventually created—is the artist’s (or writer’s) most valuable reward.&nbsp; Useful for writers of all stripes, this principle is especially helpful for writers in the final composing phases of a master’s or doctoral program.&nbsp; One of the biggest reasons such writers sometimes experience stoppages may be that the aimed-for product is so highly esteemed.&nbsp; The thesis or dissertation is a mark of academic distinction that propels its author (you) through the beginning stages of the post-degree career.&nbsp; It’s hard not to contemplate that weighty fact as you work on your project.&nbsp; But heeding the principle of process over product healthily encourages you to defer such reflection until the most appropriate moments, which likely come after, not before, the process of writing the whole thing is complete.&nbsp;&nbsp; <br /><br /><em>Setting Goals</em>: In guidelines they provide for their initial <a href="https://www.artsanonymous.org/meetings/" target="_blank">meetings</a>, A.R.T.S. Anonymous suggests that participating creators draw up a simple plan of tasks with projected completion dates.&nbsp; The list they have in mind should be structured something like this:<br />Task 1 ______________&nbsp; To be completed by ______________<br />Task 2 _____________&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; To be completed by ______________, etc.<br />Such a scheme is commonsensical and calls to mind the project-based angle on completing the thesis or dissertation, which this blog touched on last November in a review of the book <em>Writing the Dissertation: A Systematic Approach</em>.&nbsp; Yet two bits of advice stand out in the A.R.T.S. Anonymous view on goal-setting: (1) you do need to jot down a projected completion date, but then (2) you shouldn’t feel pressure to complete the tasks in the order you list them or on the exact date you set.&nbsp; At first glance, these tips seem contradictory, but they mesh with their process-over-product principle.&nbsp; The essential message of A.R.T.S. Anonymous, once again, is that you must constantly engage in your creative endeavor.&nbsp; Process is primary.&nbsp; Time taken and final product are secondary concerns.&nbsp; It’s a message that can certainly be of help to some of you in the thick of writing a thesis or dissertation.&nbsp; <br /><br /><em>Daily Five Minutes</em>:&nbsp; A.R.T.S. Anonymous calls this <a href="https://www.artsanonymous.org/about-arts/5-alive/" target="_blank">5 Alive</a>, and it’s fundamental to their program.&nbsp; The idea behind this potentially transforming practice is simple: devote five full minutes each day to your project.&nbsp; Consider how just five minutes per day gradually adds up: after one week, you’ve put in 35 minutes, and after one month, nearly 2 1/2 hours.&nbsp; Yet surely that short daily session can easily turn into a longer one, leading to more productive weeks and months.&nbsp; And that’s the idea.&nbsp; If you commit to a firm but manageable daily schedule, you’ll not only stay productive but often find yourself exceeding original expectations for your progress.&nbsp; Writers sometimes employ similar schemes for individual composing sessions.&nbsp; For example, the ten-minute freewrite: put pen to paper or hands on keyboard and write anything and everything that comes to mind, nonstop, for ten minutes.&nbsp; No matter how unrefined or choppy, the text you compose in a freewriting session nearly always yields a phrase, sentence, group of thoughts, or some combination of these that you can build on as you work toward shaping your ideas in writing.&nbsp; And last December, this blog detailed ways to organize a chunk of writing into four 25-minute sessions, a so-called Pomodoro.&nbsp; But setting aside five solid minutes each day to your project is by far the simplest and most achievable benchmark we’ve come across.<br /><span style="color: white;">.</span><br /><strong>Routine is Key</strong><br /><span style="color: white;">.</span><br />In summary, several ideas from A.R.T.S. Anonymous deserve consideration as you keep your writing going.&nbsp; Most important is to make time for focused engagement with the writing process every day.&nbsp; One last bit of related wisdom, which eloquently stresses some of the points raised above, especially the importance of daily writing: a short but powerful <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2000/07/03/books/writers-on-writing-for-authors-fragile-ideas-need-loving-every-day.html" target="_blank">piece</a> penned by detective and mystery novelist Walter Mosley, which appeared in <em>The New York Times</em>.&nbsp; Happy Daily Writing!<br /><br /><br />Image Source: Wikimedia CommonsNIUThesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12871328672457055024noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209936698291770445.post-77117844610978100722017-03-24T09:31:00.000-07:002017-03-29T08:18:25.098-07:00Doing Grad School with Kids<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SQDUzL-iieE/WNVH7pUKTDI/AAAAAAAAAX4/wQYzrAYgUHUG6oVnK3AaJzNJZtJ9ZGZ-wCEw/s1600/10994227_10206263181321387_5790050707530598739_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SQDUzL-iieE/WNVH7pUKTDI/AAAAAAAAAX4/wQYzrAYgUHUG6oVnK3AaJzNJZtJ9ZGZ-wCEw/s320/10994227_10206263181321387_5790050707530598739_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>One afternoon as I stood outside the elementary school, waiting for the doors to open and pour out little screaming humans (including my then second-grader), I overheard two Midwestern moms in active-wear talking about a mutual friend.<br /><br />"Did you know she's going back to school? I mean, <i>GREEAAD</i> school!"<br /><br />"Really? She's gonna be so busy, oh my gosh. That's just too much, <i>GREEAAD</i> school, with kids and a house..."<br /><br />"Yeah I think it's just selfish to go to <i>GREEAAD</i> school like that. I mean, she's got her bachelor's why not just stay where you're at..."<br /><br />I was in my second year of "<i>GREEAAD</i> school," and in addition to the stinker I was waiting for at the elementary school, I had a toddler at home. &nbsp;Their words didn't hurt me, but they made me chuckle a bit. While graduate study isn't for everyone, who are these judging women to assume their friend isn't an awesome person who can handle the "triple burden" of school, work, and home? &nbsp;If I can do it, other women can too. They were selling even <i>themselves</i> short, I thought. &nbsp;(Maybe they just really loved staying all day in yoga pants <i>that</i> much, I thought snidely.)<br /><br />So what do we do, as parents in graduate school, to keep ourselves emotionally afloat? And conversely, how do we know we're doing what's right for our kids? Support and understanding is probably thin on the ground, whether you live in the affluent suburbs where success = $, or in a crowded city (or empty rural area) where people are just struggling to get by and don't care to make head or tails of what strange thing it is you do at the Local University. Even seeking out other students like us is hard. I've met a few couples and single parents at the school I attend, but just having kids is not a guarantee that you will have anything else in common to talk about.<br /><br /><b>I argue that we look to the source of our seeming "burden" for some relief: <i>look to your children.</i>&nbsp;</b><br /><br /><b>Early Childhood:</b> The smallest children can understand that you are in school, that you are smart, and that you are atypical. They may even cutely brag about you to their classmates. (Once I brought my son to class with me and he told all my students how smart I am. He was only 7, so he got away with it.) It's an early model for doing what you love, and working independently. Since early childhood, my son and daughter have never doubted that they can achieve what they set their minds to, or that mothers can have important careers.<br /><br /><b>Middle Childhood:</b> Going to school brings them the ability to share in what you study! You can enrich their school experience by sharing what you know with them. My son always impresses his teachers by his background knowledge. Having grown up with a mother who does school for a living, he knows a thing or two. &nbsp;(Since he could talk, I have answered honestly, and in as much detail as was appropriate, every question he asked me. I've been told I'll spoil his imagination! Baloney.)<br /><br />And here's the best part: School-aged children can also start helping around the house, not only because they should anyway, but because you have enlisted them in your campaign! The family is going to benefit from your degree. They can contribute to you getting it done, whether it's by loading the dishwasher or playing quietly on Saturday mornings. You can all earn that degree together.<br /><br /><b>Adolescence:</b> Tween intelligence and attitudes bring a whole new level of give-and-take into your relationship with your children. Children this age need to be reminded that you are spending so much time on your schoolwork because it will make you better. If it makes <i>you</i> better, it makes the whole family better. &nbsp;With their growing sense of self, they should be able to understand why they don't always come first. Raising independent kids is important if you plan to have an intense career life and to have a life of the mind. And they will thank you for it. My son still proudly tells people what I do (though bragging wouldn't be cute from a 12-year-old), even if he can't remember exactly what I study.<br /><br /><b>Teens:</b> If you are in grad school with teens, you probably have not been in grad school their whole life. They may have to get used to it. I don't have a teen (yet) so I can't comment. I will be done before then. :P &nbsp;But what I have said about balance, independence, and team effort still applies.<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kfSjFQQ6B6o/WNVH6D1VZOI/AAAAAAAAAX0/5e2GWwIR_BctHqtgsQmlH21agl9WDnGWACLcB/s1600/29835_1487279504899_1615005_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kfSjFQQ6B6o/WNVH6D1VZOI/AAAAAAAAAX0/5e2GWwIR_BctHqtgsQmlH21agl9WDnGWACLcB/s320/29835_1487279504899_1615005_n.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2010: Holding my Bachelor's degree, <br />while 7 months pregnant with kid #2.</td></tr></tbody></table>There is a myth that children will resent parents for "neglecting" them for other pursuits. It's nonsense, and those moms I overheard were just perpetuating it. Doing what you need to do for yourself, and fitting that in with your family life is not neglect. It's balance. Your busy and interesting life will complement your child's own busy and interesting life. It will certainly not detract or distract from it.<br /><br />So, if the university parent meet-ups and attempts to befriend non-student parents haven't worked out, turn to those who already know you, and whom you already have a lot in common with. You can't lay all of your problems on them, and you can't make them your confidantes. &nbsp;But you can draw from their endless energy, contribute to their own lifelong learning, and go in as a family team to kick this degree's butt. &nbsp;You will all come out very different from most of the people you know. But that is not a bad thing. This journey enriches all of our lives, and paves the way for our children's future successes.<br /><br />Finally, a word about the advantages of doing grad school with kids. Many of us can point to our little imps as the <i>impetus</i> for doing school in the first place. And what made us want to do it <i>for ourselves</i> is that having kids makes us want to be the best people we can be! &nbsp;I didn't really go "back to school" until my son was 9 months old. After five years of undergrad, three for an MA, and four more of PhD-ing... well, he's 12 now and he's never seen me do anything else. To stop now would be to abandon a goal as old as my first best creation (him). While, again, we can't rest our goals and fears on their little shoulders, we can certainly look to them as a major source of inspiration, a cornerstone that child-free grad students do not have the benefit of building upon.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>NIUThesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12871328672457055024noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209936698291770445.post-86912303681621418042017-03-10T12:59:00.000-08:002017-03-10T22:50:38.516-08:00Engaging with the Writing Process<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ws9tPbAtx1g/WMMR6f_EKeI/AAAAAAAAAXU/m7TGo0SjbmEzZmT7kzblPBF3sYBLWmDBQCLcB/s1600/Chapter%2BOne%2BTypewriter%2BRibbon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ws9tPbAtx1g/WMMR6f_EKeI/AAAAAAAAAXU/m7TGo0SjbmEzZmT7kzblPBF3sYBLWmDBQCLcB/s400/Chapter%2BOne%2BTypewriter%2BRibbon.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Over the past few weeks, several advanced grad students have contacted&nbsp;us in the Thesis Office to check on requirements and deadlines they need to meet now that they’ve passed exams and are moving on to the thesis or dissertation.&nbsp; Congratulations to all who’ve reached that point!&nbsp; Heading toward completion naturally entails reengagements with the writing process, a process that involves five stages: prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading.&nbsp; Each stage deals with important but discrete sets of activities, and it’s worthwhile reviewing them.&nbsp; Noting how writers move back and forth between&nbsp;the stages can help you set goals and prioritize tasks as you work on the different parts of your project.<br /><br /><strong>Stages of the Writing Process</strong><br /><br /><em>Prewriting</em>:&nbsp; Many activities before (and even after) you sit down with pen and paper or face keyboard and screen are parts of prewriting.&nbsp; Prewriting is likely one of the longest stages of a thesis or dissertation project.&nbsp; Ideas for&nbsp;your project likely begin to form as you take courses, complete other program requirements, and prepare for your qualifying exam(s).&nbsp; For some writers, ideas have been forming over a period of many years.&nbsp; As you turn to the writing project itself, prewriting involves focused idea-generating activities like listing, clustering, freewriting, and outlining.&nbsp;&nbsp; <br /><br /><em>Drafting</em>:&nbsp; Composing with a plan.&nbsp; The word <em>plan</em> distinguishes drafting from activities that belong to the stage before or after it.&nbsp; When you’re producing text from a plan based on outlines, notes, or texts you generated while prewriting, you’re drafting.&nbsp; If instead you’re staring at a blank page and don’t quite know how to move forward, you’re still in the prior stage and need to engage in prewriting activities until you can form a plan for your draft.&nbsp; On the other hand, if you’ve drafted a considerable amount of planned text and feel it’s time to make changes to it, you’re progressing to the next stage.<br /><br /><em>Revising</em>:&nbsp; Literally, looking back at an accomplished draft.&nbsp; But more than just looking back, revising involves rethinking and changing the “big picture” of what you’ve drafted: reorganizing sentences or paragraphs, deleting passages, or adding new content.<br /><br /><em>Editing</em>:&nbsp; Making changes to textual details.&nbsp; The phrase <em>textual details</em> anchors the answer to the question “What’s the difference between revising and editing?”&nbsp; But in truth, revising and editing often overlap.&nbsp; The nature of the changes you’re making helps distinguish the two stages.&nbsp; If you’re reordering sections of a draft, adding substantial amounts of text to it, or cutting out large portions, you’re still involved in revising.&nbsp; If instead you’re more concerned with word choices or word forms, fact checking, and confirming that your in-text citations match your end references, you’re editing.<br />&nbsp; <br /><em>Proofreading</em>:&nbsp; The final stage.&nbsp; <em>Proof</em> is a publishing term for a nearly-finished piece that needs final checking before going to the printer and out for public viewing.&nbsp; Final checking involves careful, methodical, line-by-line reading and correcting of textual mistakes to ensure accurate punctuation, spelling, and formatting throughout the document. <br /><br /><strong>Embrace Each Stage: Advice for All Seasons</strong><br /><br />As you progress through your project, a&nbsp;sound piece of broad advice to take on board: embrace each stage of the writing process in nearly equal measure.&nbsp; Prewriting is needed to get you started in the right direction, and drafting is essential.&nbsp; But revising, editing, and proofreading are also vital to a successful finished product and&nbsp;deserve&nbsp;plenty of attention and care.&nbsp; If you seek help or guidance during any of these stages, but particularly with prewriting and drafting, remember that the <a href="http://www.niu.edu/uwc/" target="_blank">University Writing Center</a> is a fantastic resource.&nbsp; If you have questions or concerns with revising, editing, or proofreading, be sure to contact us here in the <a href="http://www.niu.edu/grad/thesis/" target="_blank">Thesis Office</a>.<br /><br />Good luck in all stages, happy spring break,&nbsp;happy writing!&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br /><br /><br />NIUThesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12871328672457055024noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209936698291770445.post-49656672106121088882017-02-24T11:05:00.002-08:002017-02-24T11:05:46.387-08:00A Thesis Office with a Mission<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TBp27SGrPEg/WLCDlRRVq9I/AAAAAAAAAW0/tIq3Mz2wLAofc91mqFZ3KMGVM3yYWFYEgCLcB/s1600/adamshall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TBp27SGrPEg/WLCDlRRVq9I/AAAAAAAAAW0/tIq3Mz2wLAofc91mqFZ3KMGVM3yYWFYEgCLcB/s1600/adamshall.jpg" /></a></div><br />The Thesis and Dissertation Office at Northern Illinois University is focused on student success, offering resources at every stage of the thesis or dissertation writing process, and operating on a unique peer-advocate model for informing and motivating graduate students.<br /><br />Comprehensive, service-oriented thesis offices exist at a few grad-degree granting institutions throughout the nation, it’s true. But they are not common, and at many schools the thesis office is focused only on guidance through red tape and the managing of documents. &nbsp;While <b>NIU’s Thesis and Dissertation Advisor, Carolyn Law</b>, can help students navigate the most tangled red tape the graduate school can dish out, we like to think that our holistic approach to thesis and dissertation assistance is a unique one!<br /><br /><b>Not Just Information</b><br /><br />The Thesis Office is the definitive source of information on how to get through the process of finalizing a thesis. But we are not just here to inform. <b>We are here to help.</b><br /><br /><b>Some services we proudly offer:</b><br /><br /><ul><li>One-on-one formatting and documentation assistance</li></ul><ul><li>Workshops on tricky thesis issues, such as page numbers, tables, and citations</li></ul><ul><li>Brown Bags and social media for meeting (online or IRL) other grad students and maintaining contact with people who understand your life situation</li></ul><ul><li>Writers’ meet-ups to help you hold yourself accountable for getting the writing done</li></ul><ul><li>Presentations on how to do the things we explain on the website (in case you need to see it and not just read it!)</li></ul><ul><li>And coming soon: Instructional videos on the toughest formatting bugbears&nbsp;</li></ul><br /><br />So, as you can see, we offer a lot more than just telling you what to do! &nbsp;We believe that this holistic, student-centered approach to guidance throughout the entire thesis process (you can visit us whether you’ve never written a word, or if you’ve written “AAAAALL THE WORDS!”) will help graduate students complete their goals in a timely manner, saving them money, headache, life crises, and preparing them for the job market. (In fact, as a department of the NIU Graduate School, we are committed to the Graduate School’s express mission of student professionalization.)<br /><br />Another key to our approach is, as I mentioned above, <b>our peer advisors</b>. &nbsp;Two graduate assistants are always employed by the office, to help you help yourself. I am one of them! (Robyn) The other is Fred. But whether you meet me and Fred this year, or Bob and Joe two years down the road (because Fred and I plan to finish our dissertations and get out of town…), you will come into contact with graduate assistants who know your struggle, and share in it every day. &nbsp;We are living through the thesis process with all its highs and lows, and we also happen to be experts on how to get it done. (As well as on formatting, grammar, documentation, and everything else you would expect from English majors). In fact, part of our job requirement is that we get it done! So, the graduate student advisor helps students feel like they are not alone and provides a great connection for networking, as well as being an approachable authority in the Graduate School.<br /><br />We do think we are special. While comparable missions are expressed by the thesis offices at Purdue and UT Knoxville to name a couple, we think we are hitting it out of the park. &nbsp;Indeed, we would like to see this type of thesis office mission become a ubiquitous goal, especially among state institutions that often grant degrees to students of diverse and non-traditional backgrounds, while operating on limited funding… and working with students who may have limited funds themselves!<br /><br />In fact, that is certainly one font from which we draw inspiration for the mission of the Thesis Office: our diverse student body of international, non-traditional, low-income, and returning students. That said, we are here for every grad student.<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wuX0Slmnhq0/WLCD5mmAoYI/AAAAAAAAAW4/NNoc2s16T28H0fhwLvJ5bjOLJm224EZXACLcB/s1600/adamshall2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wuX0Slmnhq0/WLCD5mmAoYI/AAAAAAAAAW4/NNoc2s16T28H0fhwLvJ5bjOLJm224EZXACLcB/s320/adamshall2.jpg" width="249" /></a>As you can see, we are a Thesis Office with a mission. We want graduate students to succeed, so our goal is your goal. We want to provide you with every resource (or at least refer you to one if we don’t have it) so that you can finish your thesis or dissertation with confidence and expedience.<br /><br /><b>Come see us in beautiful Adams Hall during the week, or call or email anytime!</b><br />M-Th, 10-2<br />thesis@niu.edu<br />815-753-9405<br /><br />Happy working!<br />--Robyn<br /><br /><div><br /></div>NIUThesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12871328672457055024noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209936698291770445.post-2780692016354710052017-02-10T09:36:00.000-08:002017-02-10T10:34:43.203-08:00Thesis Office Outreach: Presentations, Workshops, Brown BagsTwo weeks into February, and here at the Thesis Office we’re ready to deliver our spring presentations, workshops, and brown bag sessions for writers at any stage of the thesis or dissertation process.&nbsp; Below we give a rundown of what’s on offer over the next several weeks.&nbsp; We look forward to seeing you!<br /><br /><strong>Basic Info</strong><br />Our programs are free.&nbsp; Brown bags meet Wednesdays from 12 to 1 p.m. in Adams Hall, Room 103.&nbsp; Workshops and most presentations will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. in the same location on Tuesdays or Thursdays, but note that two presentations (<em>Writing a Dissertation in Education</em> and <em>Demystifying the Submission Process</em>) will take place on different days and at different times and locations—see below.&nbsp; <br /><br /><strong>Registration</strong><br />No registration required for brown bags.&nbsp; Registration is required for a presentation or workshop.&nbsp; Register via email at <a href="mailto:thesis@niu.edu">thesis@niu.edu</a>.&nbsp; Include the name of the presentation or workshop you want to attend in the subject line or message.&nbsp; We do have space limitations.&nbsp; Register early!&nbsp; <br /><br /><strong>What to Expect</strong><br />Plenty of important information.&nbsp; Many who experience these events walk away a bit surprised at the intricacies behind things like meeting various deadlines, submitting the proper paperwork to the proper place, or formatting the long document.&nbsp; Expect thorough coverage of common concerns as well as ample time to address individual questions.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br /><br /><strong>Presentations</strong><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1sg6ZvV_RcQ/WJ340MgYovI/AAAAAAAAAWU/ybUd6MdA62QsfaQYaffD8snRhZQ-pUkIQCLcB/s1600/efifth.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1sg6ZvV_RcQ/WJ340MgYovI/AAAAAAAAAWU/ybUd6MdA62QsfaQYaffD8snRhZQ-pUkIQCLcB/s320/efifth.JPG" width="320" /></a></strong></div><em>Thesis Essentials</em><br />Tuesday, February 21 (2 to 4 p.m. in Adams Hall, Room 103)<br />Designed for all master’s students enrolled in 699 in any department.&nbsp; Staff will walk students through the Graduate School’s specific requirements for theses and cover a wide range of the most troublesome issues thesis writers frequently encounter. <br />&nbsp;&nbsp; <br /><em>Dissertation Essentials</em><br />Wednesday, February 22 (2 to 4 p.m. in Adams Hall, Room 103)<br />Designed for all doctoral students enrolled in 799 in any department.&nbsp; Staff will walk students through the Graduate School’s specific requirements for dissertations and cover a wide range of the most troublesome issues dissertation writers frequently encounter. <br /><br /><em>Writing a Thesis in Engineering</em><br />Thursday, February 23 (2 to 4 p.m. in Adams Hall, Room 103)<br />Designed specifically for thesis writers enrolled in thesis-credit hours in the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology.&nbsp; Staff will walk students through the Graduate School’s specific requirements for theses and cover a range of issues that students in engineering fields often find troublesome. <br /><br /><em>Writing a Dissertation in Education</em><br />Saturday, February 25 (9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at NIU Naperville, Room 162)<br />This one-day program is designed specifically for dissertation writers enrolled in 799 in the College of Education.&nbsp; Staff will walk students through the Graduate School’s specific requirements for dissertations and cover a wide range of the most troublesome issues dissertation writers in Education frequently encounter. <br /><br /><em>Demystifying the Submission Process</em><br />Wednesday, March 8 (5 to 7 p.m. in Wirtz Hall, Room 104)<br />This presentation is for graduate students preparing to submit a thesis or dissertation to the Graduate School for May 2017 graduation.&nbsp; Carolyn Law, Thesis/Dissertation Advisor, will walk students through the steps of the process: defense, electronic submission, and final approval. <br /><br /><strong>Workshops</strong><em></em><br /><em>ASME Documentation</em><br />Tuesday, February 28 (2 to 4 p.m. in Adams Hall, Room 103)<br />This hand-on workshop will teach the documentation style of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, known as ASME journal style.&nbsp; Using real-word examples, students will apply the principles in real time to their own writing.&nbsp; ASME journal style is ideal for research documentation in all departments of the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology. <br /><br /><em>Problems in Theses/Dissertations: Tables/Figures/Pagination </em><br />Wednesday, March 1 (2 to 4 p.m. in Adams Hall, Room 103)<br />This hands-on workshop is designed to help writers comply with the Graduate School’s requirements for tables, figures, and pagination.&nbsp; Students should bring their work in progress on their own laptops.&nbsp; Staff will cover the specific format requirements, demonstrate helpful techniques and short-cuts in Microsoft Word, and allow generous time for individual troubleshooting and one-on-one consultation. <br /><br /><strong>Brown Bag Sessions&nbsp;</strong><br /><em>Committee Relations</em><br />Wednesday, February 15 (12 to 1 p.m. in Adams Hall, Room 103)<br />Informal discussion on choosing committee members, creating productive working relationships with them, maintaining good communications, and managing feedback throughout the process.&nbsp; Graduate School policies regarding committees will be reviewed.&nbsp; Faculty and students welcome.<br /><br /><em>Breaking Through Writer's Block (and Other Obstacles)</em><br /><em><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YipB-af-KK8/WJ342Eb6YSI/AAAAAAAAAWc/IRt5pIISo8gvgOBn700vMpCPfVv6YZUpgCEw/s1600/Brown%2BBag%2B2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YipB-af-KK8/WJ342Eb6YSI/AAAAAAAAAWc/IRt5pIISo8gvgOBn700vMpCPfVv6YZUpgCEw/s320/Brown%2BBag%2B2.JPG" width="240" /></a></em>Wednesday, February 22 <br />(12 to 1 p.m. in Adams Hall, Room 103)<br />Informal discussion on common obstacles that slow or entirely halt progress on one’s thesis or dissertation.&nbsp; Carolyn Law, Thesis/Dissertation Advisor, will facilitate the discussion and offer practical strategies.&nbsp; Students only, please.<br /><br /><em>The Balancing Act: A Life in Grad School</em><br />Wednesday, March 1 <br />(12 to 1 p.m. in Adams Hall, Room 103) <br />Informal discussion on the complexities of managing life as a graduate student, balancing family responsibilities, personal health, outside work, and the pressures of a dissertation or thesis.&nbsp; Session will be facilitated by Thesis Office GA Robyn Byrd, doctoral candidate and mother of two.&nbsp; Students only, please. <br /><br />NIUThesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12871328672457055024noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209936698291770445.post-82982091500806536752017-01-27T09:19:00.000-08:002017-01-27T09:19:18.835-08:00Eventually, Your Program Will End (So Plan Your Career Now!)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />Some of you are in the first phases of your graduate degree program, others somewhere near the middle, and still others are fortunate to be nearing the end. &nbsp;One thing we all have in common is a yearning to see what the world looks like from across the finish line, yes?<br /><br />Well, below we present a voice from that hallowed spot. &nbsp;Last December, Mike Yetter, one of the founding bloggers here at <i>Project Thesis NIU</i>, completed his doctorate in English with a dissertation on the 20th-century author John Dos Passos. &nbsp;Congratulations, Mike! &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <br /><br /><b>Now that I’ve graduated, what’s next?</b><br /><br />Well, it felt like it took me forever (upon reviewing my transcripts, it did in fact take me forever), but I made it! I admit that during the graduation ceremony, I did stand a little taller, my smile was wider, and I was breathing a lot easier, having relieved myself of an immense burden of my own design. Most important, my children, my committee, my former co-workers, and my old boss – everyone who supported me through my doctoral education – were present at the ceremony, and I could tell how proud of me they were. I stood for pictures, exchanged hugs, etc. And as soon as the ceremony was over . . . BAM! I was hit over the head with a 2 x 4 with a note attached that said: “So now that you’re on the job market, what are your plans?”<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MPa9phZ3LR4/WIeV-XKaDWI/AAAAAAAAAVU/bfpJpvmE3QwMvdW5Y0XUsBD-Qq646mYTACEw/s1600/Mike%2BYetter%2BHooded%2BClipped%2BImage.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MPa9phZ3LR4/WIeV-XKaDWI/AAAAAAAAAVU/bfpJpvmE3QwMvdW5Y0XUsBD-Qq646mYTACEw/s400/Mike%2BYetter%2BHooded%2BClipped%2BImage.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Michael K. Yetter (far right) being hooded at the Graduate School Commencement, December 2016</td></tr></tbody></table><br />This has inspired the following guest blog to pass on some important advice: Before you finish your master’s or doctoral program, sit down and speak with someone in your department about your future outside of graduate school, because it <i>will</i> come to an end. There were times when I was convinced that I was never going to graduate, and that the English department and NIU were conspiring to keep me in graduate school forever, but that really is not the case. The only person keeping you from finishing that all-important thesis or dissertation is you. Once you do finish the work (and with the help of the Thesis Office, you <i>will</i> finish the work), you need to know what it is you want to be now that you’re all grown up.<br /><br /><b>Before <i>you</i> get to this point, plot out what will come next for <i>you</i>.&nbsp;</b><br /><br />I’ve always gone from job to job. I never sat down to give serious thought to a capital C career. Not to mention, I thought the point of graduate school was to avoid such a tedious subject. Now I am in the position where it is time for me to think about the dreaded word. It turns out that I am not the only person in this boat. Some graduate students already know what they want to be when they grow up. Many, though, aren’t entirely sure what they want to do with their degree or their lives after school. <br /><br />Awhile back, I attended a seminar on jobs in the publishing field. Never did I dream that I had the background, education, or experience for such a career. After speaking with the people who ran the seminar, it turns out that I do. I’ve been an English instructor for so long, life outside of academia never occurred to me. I never planned on being an English professor; I just happened into it. Over the past decade, I’ve discovered that I really enjoy teaching, I’m pretty good at it, and I’m getting better. I know now that I want to remain in the world of academia.<br /><br />My point is this: because I took the time to attend that seminar, I learned that there are other opportunities available to me career-wise that I never before considered. It reminded me of some of the things that came up in numerous conversations I had with professors, my committee, or dissertation director: “Hey, why didn’t you apply for such-and-such fellowship?” Well, I didn’t know I was qualified or eligible for such-and-such fellowship. Why didn’t you tell me?<br /><br />I realize now that I should have made more of an effort to think about my ideal career; I should have taken the time to speak with a career-guidance counselor; I should have set aside time to sit with my director, have a cup of coffee, and discuss career prospects.<br /><br />Is this a conversation you should have the first day of your graduate school journey? No. But it is an important conversation that you need to have at some point, with someone whose opinion you respect, preferably BEFORE you write your thesis or dissertation. Believe it or not, knowing the answer to this all-important question just might influence your choice of graduate courses, not to mention your topic for your thesis or dissertation.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;">Michael K. Yetter</div><br />NIUThesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12871328672457055024noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209936698291770445.post-38811443382468251772017-01-13T09:54:00.000-08:002017-01-17T06:27:08.178-08:00Coming Soon to a Thesis Office Near You<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-02Lo_QbB27g/WHkGrcCzu3I/AAAAAAAAAU8/Nr42qNy6IiMKNOOpGlA6eGe0cxfr4Bb7wCEw/s1600/Coming%2BAttractions%2BCurtain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-02Lo_QbB27g/WHkGrcCzu3I/AAAAAAAAAU8/Nr42qNy6IiMKNOOpGlA6eGe0cxfr4Bb7wCEw/s400/Coming%2BAttractions%2BCurtain.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Warm Greetings and Happy New Year! &nbsp;A quick hello to let you know what's to come this spring at the Thesis and Dissertation Office:<br /><br /><b>Video Tutorials</b><br />This past week our office shifted to production mode and put together our first pair of video tutorials on common questions and concerns about document preparation and formatting. &nbsp;Soon-to-be available attractions include a short video on formatting leader dots in tables of contents (or similar lists) and a slightly longer one on the sometimes tricky business of formatting page numbers in a thesis or diss. &nbsp;Stay tuned for further updates!<br /><br /><b>Spring Presentations and Workshops</b><br />We start these again in early February. &nbsp;Check the NIU Events Calendar for details.<br /><br /><b>Ongoing Assistance with Your Thesis</b><br />Remember--we're available for personal consultation Monday through Thursday from 10 to 2 in Adams Hall, Room 104.<br /><br />And coming at the end of January to this blog: a guest post by former Project Thesis blogger and recent Ph.D. graduate Michael Yetter.<br /><br />NIUThesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12871328672457055024noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209936698291770445.post-18881599704009232552016-12-16T09:29:00.000-08:002017-01-12T08:34:57.963-08:00Time Management for the Worst Procrastinators<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TFJ69X6foNw/WFGMQT0tQcI/AAAAAAAAAUc/AkbOKraI3PsGIl0jQ9c1_3To1HFvL-0cwCLcB/s1600/3768198101_34ff711267_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TFJ69X6foNw/WFGMQT0tQcI/AAAAAAAAAUc/AkbOKraI3PsGIl0jQ9c1_3To1HFvL-0cwCLcB/s200/3768198101_34ff711267_o.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/eogez/3768198101" target="_blank">Emilie Ogez</a>&nbsp;on Flickr</span></td></tr></tbody></table>Time management is not something I am good at. &nbsp;I'm good at staring out the window, doodling plans and lists, and doing every other project except the one I need to finish by May 2018. I get <i>a lot</i> done (a doctoral student and a mother has to), but it isn't easy. &nbsp;And it doesn't often happen through careful planning, but through sheer will! <br /><br />So as I worked through grad school, my early teaching career, and now the beginning of the dissertation... I realized I need to get my act together. Just like writing a paper without an outline stopped working, so did living a day without an outline. But no loose planning in a bullet journal or motivational mantra on a bulletin board could help this daydreaming procrastinator. Any wiggle room would ruin me. So, desperate for a method, I focused on the smallest unit of time that could be put to excellent work, coupled with a proven system for fighting the distraction of other projects -- the <i>Pomodoro</i>.<br /><br /><b>What is it?</b><br /><br />What the heck is a Pomodoro? It's a tomato. But more on that later.<br /><br />The Pomodoro work method is based upon research that shows we can most successfully work in something like 25 minute bursts. &nbsp;This is enough time to get into a groove without wearing out our eyes or our carpal tunnels, and it's enough time to produce a substantial work chunk, say, to grade three long papers or to write a page. It's also a <i>short</i> enough time that we can completely ignore everyone else in the universe and they'll be just fine until we get back from our little Pomodoro planet. Close tabs, log out, hide phone -- blast off!<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AtfK4Znvlm0/WFGITLo3eCI/AAAAAAAAAUQ/IdpnvPPtLfQxY6mrZQy3k4zA75sWTflKgCLcB/s1600/4975166968_793305a326_m.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AtfK4Znvlm0/WFGITLo3eCI/AAAAAAAAAUQ/IdpnvPPtLfQxY6mrZQy3k4zA75sWTflKgCLcB/s1600/4975166968_793305a326_m.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lucamascaro/4975166968" target="_blank">Luca Mascaro</a>&nbsp;on Flickr</span></td></tr></tbody></table>So why not make it half an hour? Because that 5 minutes at the end gives you a chance to look up from the screen (recommended by doctors, brain doctors, and opticians alike), and move around a bit. &nbsp;Then you dive back into another 25 minutes or work. Four of these productivity bursts makes for almost two hours of work, only slightly (and restoratively) interrupted. &nbsp;Four timer sessions = a "Pomodoro." &nbsp;Say it out loud: "I just did a Pomodoro!" &nbsp;Get up and take a long break. &nbsp;Exercise, pet the cat, feed your starving kids, whatever. You earned it! &nbsp;Then, you can choose to do more Pomodoros or call it. <br /><br />The method is named as such because the original timer, designed by Francesco Cirillo, is shaped like a tomato. Imagine one of those egg timers that looks like an egg. Now it's a tomato. <i>Tada!</i><br /><i><br /></i><b>Pomodoro praxis</b><br /><br />I began the method with a stack of grading last spring, and it worked like a charm. It is absolutely flawless for clerical tasks like grading, organizing notes and sources, making tables, etc. &nbsp;Although, I had to practice and get comfortable with it before I could really <i>write</i> in a flow state&nbsp;<i>a la</i>&nbsp;<i>Pomodoro</i>. You may have to work with it awhile until you can do real "knowledge work" on a timer. &nbsp;But now that is an easy habit for me.<br /><br />As important as the timer is the minimization of distraction. CLOSE THE TABS! &nbsp;Nothing bad will happen. &nbsp;Some online timers can even do it for you. &nbsp;Half the point of this thing is work-life balance. This is the part where you have to let life slide -- it's only 25 minutes.<br /><br />I do not use the actual physical tomato, but I may start. &nbsp;Instead I use one of many online timers specifically geared towards the technique. &nbsp;You can of course use <i>any</i> timer that goes to at least 25 minutes (but for obvious reasons, don't use your phone!).<br /><br />I have used some great Pomodoros online. There are dozens if you search:<br /><br /><b>Tomato Timer</b><br /><a href="https://tomato-timer.com/">https://tomato-timer.com/</a><br />A super simple platform with start and stop key commands (or mouse buttons) and no frills. My favorite.<br /><br /><b>Tomatoid</b><br /><a href="https://www.tomatoid.com/">https://www.tomatoid.com/</a><br />A tricked out timer that lets you create an account and track projects and time spent.<br /><br /><b>The Real Pomodoro Tomato Timer</b><br /><a href="https://theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/store/ars/item/76859/Tomato-Timer/136868">https://theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/store/ars/item/76859/Tomato-Timer/136868</a><br />The "real deal" tomato is available from many sellers, but some are mightily over-priced. I think I will get mine from The Animal Rescue Site, so my $12.95 feeds a dog or some other fuzzy guy<br /><br /><b>One more thing about TIME</b><br /><br />Ok, I am a mother, a grad student, a teacher, a "life-partner" if you will, and a gigging musician. I know a thing or two about not having enough time (one of those things will require another blog post). So let me tell you something that we hear all the time in this office, and that I have had to turn into a Pomodoro-complementary mantra:<br /><br /><b>You do not find time. &nbsp;You MAKE time.</b><br /><br />There is no extra time anywhere waiting to be found. And if you happen to stumble upon some, you <i>will not even realize you have found it</i> because you will be caught up in it, looking at the TV or just resting with your loved ones.<br /><br />Extra time <i>has to be made</i>. The only way to do this is to shorten the length of time spent doing other tasks (i.e. non-dissertation tasks and clerical dissertation tasks) so that you grow the time you have to think and write and be healthy and whole. Get efficient.&nbsp;<i>Make</i> extra time for yourself and your family, and for your knowledge work.<br /><br /><b>So, some parting questions for you:</b><br /><b><br /></b> <b>What work can you let slide in the name of making time? &nbsp;Instead of thinking of it as letting something slide, can you think of it as producing something precious -- the time you need? &nbsp;</b><br /><b><br /></b><b>What work could you do more efficiently or delegate to a partner or child?</b><br /><b><br /></b><b>What unproductive time-suckers can you give up completely? We all need some. But maybe you could make time by reducing them?</b><br /><b><br /></b><b>What could you work on being less perfectionist about? Good tasks are done tasks! (And a good dissertation is a done dissertation.)</b><br /><br />More on all this in a later post. &nbsp;Happy tomato-timing and time-making!<br /><br />NIUThesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12871328672457055024noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209936698291770445.post-11073552239492702992016-12-02T13:25:00.000-08:002016-12-02T23:00:40.157-08:00Stop Reading and Start Writing: Good Advice?<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JJhdeFC3HV8/WEHjBMD4XFI/AAAAAAAAAT4/V_B4NIzd-tg99jL5Da6GryUs1O44jYtgACLcB/s1600/Leonid%2BPasternak%2BPassion%2Bof%2BCreation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JJhdeFC3HV8/WEHjBMD4XFI/AAAAAAAAAT4/V_B4NIzd-tg99jL5Da6GryUs1O44jYtgACLcB/s400/Leonid%2BPasternak%2BPassion%2Bof%2BCreation.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Passion of Creation</i>, 1892, by Leonid Pasternak (1862-1945).</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />This entry is dedicated to those of you working on the dissertation proposal as well as to those who’ve cleared that hurdle. &nbsp;At bottom it also calls out to thesis and dissertation writers in STEM and related fields.<br /><br /><b>Slouching towards Proposal’s End</b><br /><br /><i>It was rough, putting my dissertation proposal together. &nbsp;Winter merged into early spring as I ran ideas past my director and formed my committee, taught two sections of English 203, and completed an internship on campus. &nbsp;All the while I was steadily tracking down books and articles and even a few dissertations related to my research, reading them extensively and intensively, rereading notes and papers from courses I took last year and several years before that, compiling a colossal bibliography, staring into space, making notes and plans in my head and on paper and screen, thinking ideas aloud during long walks and bike rides, and trying to explain what my dissertation would be like to colleagues, friends, and family members whose quizzical grimaces, doubting frowns, and muffled guffaws in response to my ramblings linger on in bittersweet memories of that drawn-out span of time. &nbsp;The best part of it, of course, was when the actual writing happened. &nbsp;Once I finally entered the “zone” and was drafting and revising my proposal in earnest, things moved ever more smoothly and swiftly.</i><br />&nbsp; &nbsp; <br />Sound familiar? &nbsp;Most likely you can offer up an account like the one above about your progress on your proposal (or, for that matter, your progress on just about any major writing project). &nbsp;Plenty of similar accounts on the proposal can be found on relevant blogs like <a href="https://thesiswhisperer.com/" target="_blank">The Thesis Whisperer</a> (a particularly popular blog, which we here at <i>Project Thesis</i> recommend). &nbsp;Such accounts tend to convey the idea that accomplishing the proposal is like completing the dissertation in miniature. It’s a big project but not as big as the main event. &nbsp;It’s simply another engagement with the writing process. Many predictably advise that in order to complete it you must eventually do&nbsp;two very important and rather obvious things: stop reading and start writing. &nbsp;But, in the cold light of second thought, to what extent is that bit of advice helpful?<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; <br /><b>Stop reading?&nbsp;&nbsp; </b><br /><br />It’ll never happen. &nbsp;No matter how many times others tell you to stop reading and start writing, no matter how many times you say this to yourself, those words and the message behind them won’t dissuade you from naturally turning from your writing, at some point, to read something else. Perhaps it’s a secondary source like another research article that may shed more light on your project. &nbsp;Perhaps it’s a book chapter you read two months ago that now seems to deserve another look. &nbsp;Perhaps it’s a primary source, a text or study you’re analyzing and have read countless times before but now feel compelled to return to once more.&nbsp; Turning to readings&nbsp;such as these when you need to be writing is&nbsp;often branded taboo.&nbsp; Consider, however, that&nbsp;in some cases this&nbsp;judgment may a bit too drastic. &nbsp;Recall the writer in the picture at the top of this page.&nbsp; He’s clearly engaged in the writing process but isn’t putting words down. &nbsp;He appears to be working out an idea in his head.&nbsp; What should he do next? &nbsp;Continue thinking with his eyes closed? &nbsp;Draft whatever comes to mind?&nbsp;&nbsp;Why&nbsp;not turn to some of the notes or books by his side?<br /><br /><b>Reading through a Writing Delay</b><br /><br />Sometimes during the writing process writers get stuck in the drafting or revising stages and need to find a way back in. &nbsp;Temporarily revisiting the pre-writing stage at such times <em>can</em> be a constructive move. &nbsp;Among the various&nbsp;strategies for pre-writing, there is certainly a place for reading or rereading old or new sources.&nbsp; Yet when you do turn to reading or rereading such materials&nbsp;to reactivate&nbsp;the writing you need to do, heed these&nbsp;tips:<br /><br />• <b>Set suitable reading parameters</b><br />For example, if you’re proposing a dissertation on popular songs during the American Civil War,<br />clearly you should stick to sources within the boundaries of this topic area and avoid irrelevant <br />readings about, say, Modern Art.<br /><br />• <b>Read and write in tandem</b><br />Reading broadly and deeply&nbsp;is&nbsp;a fundamental component&nbsp;of&nbsp;your project, but, naturally,&nbsp;you do need to write in order to complete it.&nbsp; However, instead of thinking you should be&nbsp;<em>either </em>reading <em>or</em> writing,&nbsp;accept that, as you progress, <b><i>both</i></b> reading <b><i>and</i></b> writing can overlap.<br /><br />No matter what your field is, embracing reading while working through&nbsp;each stage of&nbsp;the writing process is&nbsp;an idea worth considering.&nbsp;&nbsp;Certainly, however,&nbsp;the&nbsp;nature&nbsp;and scope of the reading involved&nbsp;will vary&nbsp;from&nbsp;one field to the next.<br /><b></b><br /><b>A Call to Writers in STEM and Related Fields</b><br /><br />Incidentally, if you happen to be working on a thesis or dissertation in the sciences, technology, engineering, mathematics, or related fields, we’d be interested in hearing from you about your experiences with your project proposal (or hearing about your project as a whole). &nbsp;What important differences in process or approach do you notice between your own&nbsp;work and what you read about here (and elsewhere)? &nbsp;We invite you to drop ideas in the comment box below. <br /><br />NIUThesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12871328672457055024noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209936698291770445.post-12612763128694901992016-11-18T09:25:00.004-08:002016-11-18T09:27:21.739-08:00Book Review: Writing the Doctoral Dissertation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bJOvvwyBdT8/WC841zE9lvI/AAAAAAAAATI/rHGL8tnwipAYTzxQrgkBQjE2zCeL95vxQCLcB/s1600/03-FOUNDERS-INTER-gt-036_602x918.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bJOvvwyBdT8/WC841zE9lvI/AAAAAAAAATI/rHGL8tnwipAYTzxQrgkBQjE2zCeL95vxQCLcB/s320/03-FOUNDERS-INTER-gt-036_602x918.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>At the beginning of any dissertation journey, both the journey and its destination seem hazy and amorphous. As the years of coursework rolled by, I had felt as if the diss was a huge, distant thing on the horizon that was painfully, slowly coming into view. It started to take a shape, and it became more and more real as I could see it looming there. But when I found myself close up, at the end of coursework, at the top of the field exam climb, I realized it wasn't a thing at the top of that mountain. I looked out across another chasm instead, with no clearer image of what the diss really was than before all my hard work.<br /><br /><i>Enough of that!</i> I won't deny that this poetic sort of thinking about dissertating can be helpful, and is my usual mode as an English major. But&nbsp;<i>especially</i>&nbsp;as a disorganized English major, and as anyone in any discipline who has ever had trouble seeing the clear shape and scope of a project, I needed help thinking practically. I needed help making a plan. There are so many good books on the market, but many of them are titled in metaphorical language, some inspiring, some terrifying: <i>Survival Guide</i>! One of the books in our office has a cover image of a stormy sea with a flimsy lifesaver floating on it. &nbsp;No thanks. &nbsp;My dissertation is not the Titanic.<br /><br />In <i>Writing the Doctoral Dissertation: A Systematic Approach,</i> the dissertation is not characterized as a "quest" or a "trial by fire" or anything other than what it is. It's a writing project! The book turns the diss into a procedure, like any other. &nbsp;A procedure with linear steps (some cyclical ones too), with deadlines, and with clear goals. Gone are the musings about "demystifying" the "journey" or some other useless crap that a person in the throes of drafting could have thought of themselves. &nbsp;If what you need is a clear, disinterested voice, untinged by commiseration or by condescension, to say to you "DO EXACTLY THIS"... then this is the book you should read.<br /><br />Also, this book is fairly new, like <i>of-this-decade</i> new. &nbsp;Its authors know about current trends in scholarship in various fields, alternative sorts of dissertations, and contemporary expectations for research in an age of globally accessible information and project collaborations.<br /><br />In my youth I was always the straight-through writer, never an outliner. In grad school I began to see the purpose of having a structure and some goal-points in mind before beginning a project. But I never put that to use beyond the twenty or so pages required for my term papers. &nbsp;Assorted piles of papers with color coded post-it notes were enough semi-organization to get me through. But now, as I face this new ~200 page project (journey, chasm, <i>abyss</i>, whatever you want to call it),<b> this book has me obsessed with the checklist, the calendar, the breakdown, and even the "budget" of the dissertation</b>. &nbsp;In a very good way.<br /><br /><i>Writing the Doctoral Dissertation: A Systematic Approach (</i>by Gordon B. Davis, Clyde A. Parker, and Detmar W. Straub<i>,&nbsp;</i>Barron's, 2012)&nbsp;is available online and in the NIU bookstore. &nbsp;Here is a summary from one of the contributors:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.gs.howard.edu/sbe/text/reading5.pdf">http://www.gs.howard.edu/sbe/text/reading5.pdf</a><br /><br />At $12.99 it will be one of your best grad school investments (or maybe a close second to the coffee pot).NIUThesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12871328672457055024noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209936698291770445.post-51205058822681005802016-11-04T13:27:00.003-07:002016-11-08T08:11:44.180-08:00The Nontraditional Dissertation and You <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tAN3oVDuEGQ/WByiPNh2QJI/AAAAAAAAASU/iOuo4CTGm6wjnEtFHcnUCJG9Yu4PcPY0ACEw/s1600/Comic%2BBook%2BDiss%2Bb.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="385" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tAN3oVDuEGQ/WByiPNh2QJI/AAAAAAAAASU/iOuo4CTGm6wjnEtFHcnUCJG9Yu4PcPY0ACEw/s640/Comic%2BBook%2BDiss%2Bb.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Opening panels of Nick Sousanis's dissertation.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><br />By tradition, the dissertation is a text-centered project rooted in conventions established long, long ago during the early days of print. Perhaps you agree it's high time to overturn the old ways. Perhaps you're ready to see academia break free from the shackles of tradition and embrace dissertations that depart from the monograph or that combine text with images and other media. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><br /></b><b>The Nontraditional Dissertation</b><br /><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Actually, contemporary dissertators have already started clearing such nontraditional paths, and coverage of these developments makes for some interesting reading. In an <a href="http://projectthesisniu.blogspot.com/2016_06_01_archive.html" target="_blank">entry last June</a>, our blog touched on stories of pioneers of various sorts who have approached the dissertation in novel ways; the first story is amusing but also alarming (detailing how politicians and other officials in Russia have been buying dissertations on the black market!), whereas the second is intriguing and rather inspiring (documenting dissertations that take the form of interactive digital texts or even comic books). The advent of the comic-book dissertation was further detailed (with plenty of eye-catching graphics) in this 2014 <a href="https://chroniclevitae.com/news/361-the-amazing-adventures-of-the-comic-book-dissertator" target="_blank">article</a> by Sydni Dunn at <i>The Chronicle of Higher Education</i>. Dunn devotes much of her piece to Nick Sousanis’s <i>Unflattening</i>, a dissertation in comic form that Sousanis produced at Columbia University and subsequently turned into a <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674744431" target="_blank">book</a>, published in 2015 by Harvard University Press. Sousanis is now a professor at San Francisco State; you can read more about his work on comics as educational tools on his detailed&nbsp;<a href="http://spinweaveandcut.com/" target="_blank">website</a>. Finally, you can find an abundance of relevant articles and media clips on the website&nbsp;of the <a href="http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/alt-ac/cluster/beyond-dissertation-1" target="_blank">#Alt-Academy</a>, a place for humanities scholars to share their experiences at producing unorthodox dissertations and embarking on nontraditional academic careers.<br /><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Where Do You Fit In?&nbsp;</b><br /><br />Regardless of your field, you may wish to pursue a nontraditional dissertation. When I initially heard that term, the first thing that came to my mind was some kind of creative piece that involves more than just written text, something like Sousanis’s comic-book dissertation or a performance-based project one might produce in fields such as dance, theater, or film. But there is certainly room for nontraditional approaches in other fields such as education, engineering, or health and human sciences. In fields like these, research and post-degree goals may fit in nicely with a project comprised of stand-alone articles, reports, or digital materials (instead of a unified set of dissertation chapters).<br /><br />If you're contemplating a nontraditional route for your dissertation (or thesis), here are three main points to consider as you make your plans.<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">1. <i>Acceptability</i>. How enthusiastically will your committee members accept the idea? You obviously need to get approval from your director and other readers as you prepare your project's proposal. At this stage, you'll most certainly need to inform them of any plans you may have for out-of-the ordinary methods or innovative presentations of results. <br /><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">2. <i>Marketability</i>. How will a nontraditional project enhance your short-term and long-range career prospects?&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />3. <i>Flexibility</i>. How willing and able are you to make changes to your nontraditional document, your methods of displaying it, or to the way it mixes textual innovations with conventional formatting requirements? Note that certain features in complex multimodal files may not display effectively on platforms like ProQuest (or the file may exceed the size limit).&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />And, by the way, if you're already working on a nontraditional project (or if you've completed one), we'd be thrilled if you told us a little about your experiences in the comments section below!<br /><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Nontraditional in Form: Your ETD&nbsp;</b><br /><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Of course, compared to a traditional dissertation or thesis from the distant or even more recent past, the document you eventually complete will be inherently nontraditional: no matter how conventional or non-digital it is in execution (whether you develop it from handwritten drafts, lab experiments, fieldwork, studio sessions, or performances), you must convert the report of your defended piece (conventional, innovative, or somewhere in between) into a PDF file that can be read and distributed electronically. Remember that we provide step-by-step guidelines for submitting your file as an electronic thesis/dissertation (ETD) on our <a href="http://www.thesis.niu.edu/grad/thesis/index.shtml" target="_blank">webpage</a>. Good luck with all your work as you progress to that final stage!<o:p></o:p></div><br /></div>NIUThesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12871328672457055024noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209936698291770445.post-80383788807876071342016-10-26T11:51:00.003-07:002016-11-09T09:23:47.605-08:00Building Your Tribe (Again and Again)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I-c0x6H9fZo/WCNbkntdteI/AAAAAAAAASw/fNFPDsuwdlcStUaw0oUcKNtChs7Kb-kOACLcB/s1600/15-TA_Orientation-0819-WD-070_250x166.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I-c0x6H9fZo/WCNbkntdteI/AAAAAAAAASw/fNFPDsuwdlcStUaw0oUcKNtChs7Kb-kOACLcB/s320/15-TA_Orientation-0819-WD-070_250x166.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />If you're an average-aged grad student or older, you're a full fledged grown-up by now, whether you like it or not. Like me, you've probably realized that making friends as an adult is not like making friends as a young person. When we lose the easy friendships of our high school tribe, our college tribe, or even our bar-going, concert-going, or [insert any 20-something activity here] buddies, the road to a graduate degree can get lonesome. The sobriety of adulthood and of the graduate journey are two strikes against us as friend material.<br /><br /><b>What I've realized is that adults, especially in our line of work, need friends with common interests and similar goals. </b>The exuberance of youthful friendships and the energy of their bodies and minds (and their staggering amount of free time) makes friendships of all kinds enjoyable and sustainable. &nbsp;We can still have our old friendships. But as graduate students, we have a specific goal shared by a small percentage of the population. Not only that, our most passionate interests are only interesting to an <i>even smaller,</i>&nbsp;infinitesimal percentage of the population.&nbsp;It seems like we need to bust out the Venn Diagrams to figure out which of the people we know should still put up with us as friends!<br /><br /><b>The First Tribe: Get One!</b><br /><br />When I say we need similar people in our lives, I don't mean <i>vaguely</i> similar. Like "We are both success oriented and outgoing!" similar. I mean<i> SIMILAR</i>. Like, "We both study the genome of a rare species of Bolivian rat!" similar. ...I'm kidding. But students in your department who share the same journey are the first place to look for camaraderie, if you are newly doing the grad thing. Attend lectures, talk to people after class, join a group, go out for drinks. At first it will be awkward. But we're all old enough not to care about being "cool"! So try really hard just to soak it all up. Be observant, and don't be competitive. &nbsp;You are all in the same leaky boat.<br /><br />In the English Department at NIU, we had a broad core of classes, no matter our focus, and I met many like-minded people. Among the TAs in particular, our shared experience of teaching composition to freshmen created a strong bond. (Working on campus and being a part of the department is priceless.) The coursework experience, and the combined experience of the first few years of teaching with people I also studied with, won me a new tribe. I can only hope that coursework and GA work is such a social boon for all early career grad students.<br /><br /><b>End of Coursework, End of Social Life?</b><br /><br />That tribe disappears, all too soon. The MA students were gone in two years. I miss some of them a lot. PhD students who entered ahead of me, core members of my tribe, are off dissertating, locked away from social interruptions. Some have finished and moved far away. &nbsp;I stopped driving to campus for the drink nights that used to be so easy to attend when they were right after class. Today, I have the solid support of my office, and the vague support of my family who have no idea what I'm doing. But I haven't much in the way of comrades. I feel like I'm writing all alone.<br /><br />All I can say is don't let that happen. The involvement will diminish, but the time spent together is still important. At the stage of the thesis or dissertation we need so much more than commiseration and shop talk. <b>We need support, strategies, hope, and human connection.</b> We spend so much time with our research and our laptops. It's odd, really. But you know who won't think it's odd? The other people who do it.<br /><br /><b>Facebook groups (friend everyone!) are a great way to plan events and stay in touch</b>, even when you hardly see each other in person anymore. Part of the reason I dropped out of the tribe was lack of transportation. &nbsp;Well, I've got a new car! Writing this post has given me the urge to get back on social media and find some real-life social activities to do.<br /><br /><b>Other Ways to Connect</b><br /><br />I know I just said you need grad student friends. But there are <i>other</i> kinds of specifically like-minded friends! That's my main thesis here -- &nbsp;we are not the best friend material right now. &nbsp;So we should seek friendship that is as supportive as possible of our unique situations.<br /><br />I have a social life outside of school, almost solely because I'm in rock bands. This is another way that I surround myself with people of very specific interests. Do you play? If not, you're probably not someone I see very often. It sounds bad, but we only have so much time, and we need to fill it with the right kinds of stimulation. &nbsp;So in addition to your efforts on campus, finding a hobby and focusing on it can round out your social life better than aimless bar-going or online dating. Most of us can't turn our brains off, right? &nbsp;So find something that stimulates a different part of it. &nbsp;Art, geo-caching, gaming, hiking, whatever. A specific thing to share.<br /><br /><b>Someday We'll Be Normal (Sort of)</b><br /><br />Someday we will finish our theses and dissertations. We can nurse neglected friendships, balance our lives out, and maybe even start eating real food again! I'm not arguing at all that high-achievers have no use for broader social circles and diversity among their friends. I'm just saying that <i>right now</i>, you need grad school friends. And the best way to find the ones who will help you along your journey is to simply look around at your fellow travelers.<br /><br /><br />NIUThesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12871328672457055024noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209936698291770445.post-44128839988035293832016-10-07T09:10:00.001-07:002016-10-11T08:18:55.050-07:00The Thesis and the Dissertation: Peas in a Pod<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JtNGPIZTq9s/V_epkUgvOXI/AAAAAAAAARA/iRYZFmFFx6AxYVJR7HaIu4l2jvZdzcWlgCLcB/s1600/Books%2Band%2BMagnifying%2BGlass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JtNGPIZTq9s/V_epkUgvOXI/AAAAAAAAARA/iRYZFmFFx6AxYVJR7HaIu4l2jvZdzcWlgCLcB/s320/Books%2Band%2BMagnifying%2BGlass.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />We call the document for the master’s degree a “thesis,” and the longer one for the doctorate a “dissertation,” and perhaps you wonder why. <br /><br />Well, many thoughts on the nature of theses and dissertations have been buzzing through our office lately. Over the past four weeks, we held our fall slate of presentations, workshops, and brown-bag sessions for students working on one or the other kind of document. Several of our programs cover important details behind the Graduate School’s document-formatting requirements. When we look through these requirements closely, it becomes clear that they’re nearly identical for either a thesis or dissertation.<br /><br />So, then, if the format looks nearly identical, what distinguishes the thesis from the dissertation? A glance at the histories of the two words makes for an interesting way to highlight some differences and similarities between these two important writing projects.<br /><br /><b>"How do I <i>put</i> it?"</b><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--5YC7oPlnq4/V_eqSUFn-2I/AAAAAAAAARc/m5tw3EJvQYAItqOKepseXPirjt5VmM41QCEw/s1600/Engraving%2Bof%2Ba%2Bscholar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--5YC7oPlnq4/V_eqSUFn-2I/AAAAAAAAARc/m5tw3EJvQYAItqOKepseXPirjt5VmM41QCEw/s320/Engraving%2Bof%2Ba%2Bscholar.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />Thesis writers, do you sometimes find yourself wondering how to put your ideas in writing while working on your project? If so, you're not only human (nearly all writers, at some point, wrestle with how to put thoughts on paper or screen) but also hinting at some of the history behind the word "thesis." Like many terms in academia, the words “thesis” and “dissertation” come to us from Greek through Latin. "Thesis" originally derives from the Indo-European root *<i>dhe</i>-, which had the meaning of ‘to set’ or ‘to put.’ The root later formed the central element in the Greek verb <i>tithenai</i>, meaning ‘to place, put, or set,’ as well as the noun <i>thesis</i>. In Latin, <i>thesis</i> referred to the unstressed and later the stressed syllables in a line of poetry. (Stress for thesis writers today is usually of a different nature!) In the English of the late 1500s, “thesis” began to refer to a statement to be proved through logic—in other words, a thesis statement. By the next century, the word’s meaning broadened to include what we in the twenty-first century think of when we speak of a master’s thesis--the formal document presented for the master’s degree.<br /><br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nNJ2E5uUmbA/V_ermfR5orI/AAAAAAAAARo/oUCNui7RNf0gnjjxyUuPIa6M66Va5T9jwCEw/s1600/Scholars%2Bat%2Ba%2BLecture%2Bby%2BWilliam%2BHogarth%2B1697-1764%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nNJ2E5uUmbA/V_ermfR5orI/AAAAAAAAARo/oUCNui7RNf0gnjjxyUuPIa6M66Va5T9jwCEw/s320/Scholars%2Bat%2Ba%2BLecture%2Bby%2BWilliam%2BHogarth%2B1697-1764%2529.jpg" width="280" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scholars at a lecture. Engraving by William Hogarth, 1736</td></tr></tbody></table><b>"Contrary to what others have said, I argue that…"</b><br /><br />Dissertators, when you explain your project, do you sometimes linger around that point where you need to arrange your thoughts to emphasize how your work stands apart from previous scholarship? Such efforts invoke something of the original spirit of the word "dissertation." It's rooted in the Latin verbs <i>dissertare</i> ‘to debate, argue, examine, harangue’ and <i>disserere</i>, a combination of <i>dis</i>- ‘apart’ and <i>serere</i> ‘to arrange.’ The etymology zeroes in on the general task doctoral candidates must carry out today: arrange an argument based on original evidence as well as on an examination of the surrounding scholarly debate, write it out clearly and convincingly at length, share it with the world, and live to tell about it. (Long sentence, longer ordeal!) The word began to refer to such a thing in the 1650s, around the same time "thesis" began to refer to a similar piece. According to the <i>OED</i>, the meaning of "dissertation" began to be restricted to the monograph produced for the doctorate in the 1930s.<br /><br /><b>Peas in a Pod</b><br /><br />Thus, once established in academic circles, the terms "thesis" and "dissertation,” along with the documents they refer to, grew up alongside each other. No wonder, then, that their format requirements overlap and that we sometimes speak of these two types of documents in the same breath. But in addition to the etymological and historical hints at what these documents <i>do</i>, universities usually separate the two by degree and kind. The thesis is shorter and is a kind of knowledge display. The dissertation is longer and is a kind of original research and significant new contribution to a field.<br /><br />Of course, the <a href="http://www.grad.niu.edu/grad/" target="_blank">Graduate School</a> also offers clear and succinct definitions for a <a href="http://www.grad.niu.edu/grad/thesis/pdf/ETD-Guidelines-Thesis.pdf" target="_blank">thesis</a> and a <a href="http://www.grad.niu.edu/grad/thesis/pdf/ETD-Guidelines-Dissertation.pdf" target="_blank">dissertation</a>. Check them early and often. And you can always turn to us if you seek further <a href="http://www.grad.niu.edu/grad/thesis/index.shtml" target="_blank">information or guidance</a>. We’re happy to help! <br /><br />In case you missed one of our fall programs, note that we’ll be offering presentations, workshops, and brown bags once again at the start of the spring semester. In the meantime, we’re available through email, phone, or walk-in. And remember that our writing group for thesis and dissertation writers, <a href="https://calendar.niu.edu/MasterCalendar/EventDetails.aspx?data=hHr80o3M7J5e6eXTX6b0XCs5maMssS9qIMo4D2ICtI1QhxkyzF%2bvN%2bckZtkdAdxw" target="_blank">Write Place/Write Time</a>, meets on the second Thursday of every month from 6 to 9 p.m. in Founders Memorial Library (4th Floor East). Look for us there this coming Thursday, October 13. Happy writing!&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br /><br />Source for the above images: Wikimedia Commons.NIUThesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12871328672457055024noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209936698291770445.post-55266817636080797322016-09-27T09:56:00.001-07:002016-09-27T09:56:03.205-07:00Proper Document Formatting: Your Readers Want It!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jerE9nT5C1w/V-qd6ktgxXI/AAAAAAAAAQk/8IQk7dt2F_cTrWTbKlLens0u2T6LYMdlgCLcB/s1600/grading-papers%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="306" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jerE9nT5C1w/V-qd6ktgxXI/AAAAAAAAAQk/8IQk7dt2F_cTrWTbKlLens0u2T6LYMdlgCLcB/s400/grading-papers%2B%25281%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><br />Since our undergrad years we have been told to use seemingly arbitrary formatting conventions for many of the academic assignments we've turned in. &nbsp;There are lab report formats, literature review formats, citation styles such as APA, MLA, and a hundred others. As an English student, I learned MLA, scoffed at what I thought was APA's fixation on dates and enshrining of other people's research, and never looked back.<br /><br />But now that I teach writing, and sometimes research writing, I've had to learn how format and style is dependent on discipline. &nbsp;My students use what suits them. APA makes much more sense for many of the sciences. &nbsp;I, a literature student, could write many pages on a hundred year old piece of scholarship, as long as I knew what else has been said about it in 2016. &nbsp;But a science student or psych student has no use for moldy old papers, beyond understanding the history of their discipline. Dates matter, and I'm glad we don't take medicine produced with ancient methods or visit hospitals built upon century-old research! &nbsp;(APA helps make sure of it.) &nbsp;Just as I'm glad that engineers even have their own way of documenting things (ASME, and others) that respects the research of others, so that when someone uses their findings, our bridges stay up and our cars drive straight. (I'm showing my humanities understanding of how things work now, haha!) &nbsp;So, there really are reasons for these things.<br /><br />But even though I know about the plenitude of research styles and the uses for them now, I see even more clearly that all the formatting of these styles, on the page, is definitely arbitrary.<br /><br /><b>So why the heck do we format? &nbsp;</b><br /><br />What's the point? I'll tell you. Because it is a convention that is absolutely necessary to keep your reader from pulling their hair out and losing their eyesight! &nbsp;(Especially now that you are writing a hundred or even hundreds of pages for someone else's review). Students, especially my freshman writers, sometimes balk at this arbitrariness. But I kind of revel in it. &nbsp;(After all, even language itself is arbitrary. And so are apostrophes.). Arbitrary strictness, when it comes to documents, is far and wide preferable to willy-nilly personal formatting quirks (at best), or incoherent methods of document organization that impede meaning (at worst). <br /><br />Here at the Thesis Office, we understand that many quirks about your document have to do with whether you are a biologist, or an art therapist, or a computer scientist, or a linguist, or... you get the idea. We see the marks of your discipline on the page, and we can even help you make sure you are making those marks correctly (citations, references, tables, etc.) before your committee even sees the thing. &nbsp;Please, come see us! &nbsp;But in addition to those formatting requirements handed down from your discipline gods, the Thesis gods have a few more. &nbsp;And this is where you might really need our help. &nbsp;Again, you're asking EGADS! WHY? &nbsp;Because someone has to read your paper, that's why. And hopefully for your sake, many someones will read your paper. Format, and every other kind of orthography, that is, the way things look on a page, is about making yourself easy to read. Your document will go into a repository with thousands of other documents, and if it looks different, it will look funny. &nbsp;And it may even look confusing. The reader has to know: Where do I find the list of tables? How is the front matter arranged and numbered? What corner are the page numbers in? What level of heading am I reading, like is this an important section or a sub-thought? &nbsp;Can I put this in a binder and be sure the holes aren't going to punch right through the data sets? Etc. Standardized formatting means readers know what they're getting, and can use it easily. &nbsp;Nothing we ask you to do will compromise the goals of the formatting of your discipline. But it might drive you crazy anyway. &nbsp;Seriously, come see us.<br /><br /><b>A reader's experience</b><br /><br />I have a first grader, and I commend the teacher who can read thirty little papers in thirty handwriting styles and in thirty invented spelling styles, all written in everyone's favorite crayon color. I salute you! As a teacher of philosophy and freshman English, I don't have it so bad. But I see so many papers. A few hundred every term.<br /><br />While it is certainly nice to have everything typed on white paper, I also ask my students to use certain formatting, and invariably they don't take it very seriously until about mid-term. &nbsp;I get papers in the default Microsoft Word font, I get papers in fonts that look very much like Times New Roman but are not Times New Roman ("TNR 12pt!" I write, in screaming teacher commentary at the top of their paper, right next to "TITLE!" because for some strange reason they don't title their work...) &nbsp;I read the piles of papers, and the idiosyncrasies drive me mad. The font called Cambria makes me want to scream. OMG CAMBRIA UGH! The attempted use of 2.25 spacing to pad their papers (instead of a double-space) just makes me laugh. 1.5" margins make me put my head down on the table and take a break. &nbsp;While some of these things are because of students trying to trick me (I know grad students don't do that!), some are them are out of pure carelessness. &nbsp;They are not bucking against convention. They are being undisciplined and causing problems for their reader. &nbsp;The students with the best grades? &nbsp;The ones with good formatting. &nbsp;Not because I grade them on their perfect margins! &nbsp;But because they are people who pay attention to detail, and that comes out in both the content of their papers and in the presentation. &nbsp;While the Thesis office won't have much to say about your content, your committee will. The presentation of it is important. <br /><br />So when Carolyn at the Thesis Office finally reads your work, we don't want to hear her head thud to the table in the next room, or hear her scream "AAAACK 1.5 inch MARGINSSS!" from down the hall. We'll all want to know who did it.<br /><br />You have worked so hard on this thesis. &nbsp;Do it an honor and do your future readers the honor of formatting it like a pro! &nbsp;Because once you pass this last "test," you are a pro. &nbsp;Conventions are annoying, they take up time and brain-space, and no one can tell us exactly why they are the way they are. &nbsp;But they are still important, just as important as the conventions of using a period to end a sentence or quotation marks to set off a quote. If we value our research and its products, we should do everything we can to participate in the community by keeping our reviewers', committee's, and future readers' eyes on the page and their heads off the table.<br /><div><br /></div>NIUThesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12871328672457055024noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209936698291770445.post-12186279058859905972016-09-09T08:56:00.001-07:002016-10-04T08:07:10.681-07:00The Right Place to Write?<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ohsq15YKbEk/V9LTc1z2-KI/AAAAAAAAAQA/L9YsuvDeTzUhns9q6AZCuYcAGNaLD8O4gCLcB/s1600/Mark%2BTwain%2BWriting%2Bin%2BBed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="display: inline !important; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ohsq15YKbEk/V9LTc1z2-KI/AAAAAAAAAQA/L9YsuvDeTzUhns9q6AZCuYcAGNaLD8O4gCLcB/s400/Mark%2BTwain%2BWriting%2Bin%2BBed.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mark Twain finishing a chapter?</td></tr></tbody></table><b><br /></b>NIU’s thesis and dissertation writing group, Write Place/Write Time, met yesterday from 6 to 9 p.m. for our first fall meet-up. Four of us convened in our clean, well-lighted place—reserved every second Thursday—next to the Fourth Floor East windows in Founders Memorial Library. After greeting and chatting briefly, we each got down to business: composing in a quiet environment largely removed from everyday distractions. A great experience!<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />Writing alongside others working on projects similar to your own has many benefits: structure, support, accountability, and a spirit of healthy competition (in the positive sense suggested by the Latin roots of compete: <i>com</i>- ‘together’ + <i>petere</i> ‘to strive’). In previous posts, this blog has featured excellent overviews of Write Place/Write Time and its benefits in the context of one dissertator's routine and schedule (<a href="http://projectthesisniu.blogspot.com/2016_05_01_archive.html" target="_blank">May 20, 2016</a>, and <a href="http://projectthesisniu.blogspot.com/2015/12/writing-groups.html" target="_blank">December 4, 2015</a>). Here I’d like to add a bit more on the topic of the places where successful writing happens through sharing of a few pieces of literary trivia.<br /><br /><b>Other Writers, Other Places</b><br /><b><br /></b>Virginia Woolf once famously said, to be able to write one needs money and a room of one’s own (in reference to women writing fiction in Shakespeare’s day). As any grad student can tell you, she was right about the money part. &nbsp;But what about that other part? Is a room of one’s own the optimal setting for good writing?<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rZ3OhE-G-aY/V9LTD9MGtcI/AAAAAAAAAP8/EdMEXJKOgNkRvwNqI0Lxlzl8XN3XTKYqgCLcB/s1600/Georges%2BSimenon%2BWriting%2Bat%2BHome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rZ3OhE-G-aY/V9LTD9MGtcI/AAAAAAAAAP8/EdMEXJKOgNkRvwNqI0Lxlzl8XN3XTKYqgCLcB/s320/Georges%2BSimenon%2BWriting%2Bat%2BHome.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Georges Simenon--<br />I think he's the guy at the desk.<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Settings you can’t call your own may very well feature all manner of unhelpful distractions. Perhaps that’s why Belgian novelist Georges Simenon strongly favored working in a room just for him. Creator of hundreds of detective novels, Simenon was “perhaps the most widely published author of the 20th century,” according to his official <a href="http://georgessimenon.co.uk/biography/" target="_blank">website</a><span id="goog_1581449314"></span>. Simenon would reportedly complete a novel in about eleven days of isolated, non-stop writing. He would take breaks to eat and sleep, but during these writing stints he would speak to no one, take no phone calls, and never leave his room (Salgado 66). No word on whether he ever considered grad school.<br /><br />Writing in your own space may help foster constructive writing methods. In his later years, as pictured above, Mark Twain apparently preferred to write in his bedroom while still in bed. Twain isn’t the only successful author who developed a fancy for horizontal composing. The approach has been taken up more recently by DeKalb High School graduate, novelist, and Stanford professor Richard Powers.<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v5mSVlcLf5s/V9LTelBEZTI/AAAAAAAAAQE/ZC_D1gz7oW0U4tbslNWL2WwTPeyzW6fPACLcB/s1600/Richard%2BPowers%2Bat%2BStanford.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v5mSVlcLf5s/V9LTelBEZTI/AAAAAAAAAQE/ZC_D1gz7oW0U4tbslNWL2WwTPeyzW6fPACLcB/s320/Richard%2BPowers%2Bat%2BStanford.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Richard Powers: Standing up at Stanford.</td></tr></tbody></table>In a <a href="http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/298/the-art-of-fiction-no-175-richard-powers" target="_blank">2003 interview</a> in <i>The Paris Review</i>, Powers related that his dream “has always been to suspend myself in space when I write, and lying horizontal in bed is the closest to doing that.” Perhaps this method is worth exploring. <br /><br />Just as memorable and worth considering is Ernest Hemingway’s habit of writing in his bedroom while standing up. A fascinating portrait of Hemingway’s work habits appears in this <a href="http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/4825/the-art-of-fiction-no-21-ernest-hemingway" target="_blank">1958 interview</a> in <i>The Paris Review</i>.<br /><br /><br /><b>Summing Up: Write Place/Write Time</b><br /><b><br /></b><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZkpChws--HQ/V9LUO8tMW6I/AAAAAAAAAQI/kNUmYBsvzGgQ5udGQ48psrk7Lv5dt3AWACLcB/s1600/Hemingway%2BWriting%2BStanding%2BUp.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZkpChws--HQ/V9LUO8tMW6I/AAAAAAAAAQI/kNUmYBsvzGgQ5udGQ48psrk7Lv5dt3AWACLcB/s320/Hemingway%2BWriting%2BStanding%2BUp.png" width="184" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ernest Hemingway thinking on his feet.</td></tr></tbody></table><b></b><br />Certainly all writers need some sort of combination of place and time in order to get their writing done. May the above anecdotes and reading links refresh some of your ideas about writing, help you rethink places where your best writing happens, and inspire you to get back to it.<br /><br />And remember: a room of our own is available every second Thursday in the library. We hope to see you there. Until then, happy writing!<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Work Cited</div></div>Salgado, Gamini. &nbsp;“The Novelist at Work.” &nbsp;<i>Novels and Novelists: A Guide to the World of Fiction</i>. &nbsp; Ed. Martin Seymour-Smith. &nbsp;New York: St. Martin’s, 1980. &nbsp;Print.<br /><div><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br />NIUThesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12871328672457055024noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209936698291770445.post-79379888947170238302016-08-26T09:52:00.001-07:002016-09-08T16:25:12.703-07:00The History of the Dissertation in Academia<h4></h4><br />Since I am in the beginning stages of writing a dissertation, I began to wonder... WHY??? &nbsp;And I'm sure you all wonder this at some point. &nbsp;I looked into the history of the dissertation and didn't find much of interest, until I came upon an old, stale article (does anybody remember 1998?) by Gary Olson and Julie Drew. &nbsp;It's an interesting read, despite its staleness -- because of its mission. &nbsp;The authors' need to go into the history of the dissertation is driven by their urge to protect the scholarly and professional status of the dissertation -- to keep universities and faculty alike from downgrading these documents, which are no longer necessarily published or even publishable, to grey literature, second-rate student exercises in a discipline. If that's all it is, then why do it, right? &nbsp;Academia is so bad we might as well all go ABD!<br /><br /><b>The History</b><br /><br />But wait -- we are working in an enterprise with a short but significant life. &nbsp;Here is a brief look:<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ctoaHPYbqnM/V8Byw0CCGZI/AAAAAAAAAPQ/JJdrpynSXl4NVgdneslpCDLc25lL2-b_wCLcB/s1600/%2527Pseudodoxia_Epidemica%2527_-frontispiece_to_1658_edition.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ctoaHPYbqnM/V8Byw0CCGZI/AAAAAAAAAPQ/JJdrpynSXl4NVgdneslpCDLc25lL2-b_wCLcB/s320/%2527Pseudodoxia_Epidemica%2527_-frontispiece_to_1658_edition.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />The dissertation is a relatively new rite of passage in the history of academia. When medieval and Renaissance scholars took academic titles, they didn't dissertate to get there. And when some of the most highly educated scholars and writers of the Early Modern Period finished their schooling, they didn't take the title "Doctor". (Unless maybe they were a <i>Doctor of Physick</i> and liked attaching leeches to people!)<br /><br />The dissertation has its origins in 18th and 19th century Europe, particularly in Germany. <i>Herr Doktors</i> were the first scholars to have to not only write but<i> publish</i> a dissertation in order to have their degree conferred. This guaranteed that the junior scholars, in whom the senior scholars had invested so much time, would produce new knowledge, a contribution. The first American University to grant PhD's followed this format, and by 1861 our own Yale had produced the first three American Doctors of Philosophy, who had all published short but sweet dissertations (Olson 57). (One was six pages long!)<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cEJJT2Bw9uc/V8Bzl7SRJPI/AAAAAAAAAPU/5zSfC6x_iDcAbsWObx0dXM6Fuvj9TQXogCLcB/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cEJJT2Bw9uc/V8Bzl7SRJPI/AAAAAAAAAPU/5zSfC6x_iDcAbsWObx0dXM6Fuvj9TQXogCLcB/s1600/images.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">James Morris Whiton,<br />first American Ph.D.</td></tr></tbody></table>It was this migration of the dissertation to America, combined with what one of my professors calls "the reading machine" (i.e. capitalism-fueled publishing and the consumption of such), that led to the establishment of the university press (Olson 58). &nbsp;We had to find a way to print all those books!<br /><br />Then, with PhDs increasing every year, it eventually became impractical to publish the "diss," (that's what we call it in the biz...), and the requirement to publish fell off by the 1930s (Olson 58). &nbsp;Since then, we have moved to microfilm, a single bound copy in the library, and eventually, all electronic dissertations that have probably never been printed on paper in their final form. (Unless the proud new Doctor pays about fifty bucks to get a vanity-bound personal copy). &nbsp;So, what was once a scholar's first real book, a first real contribution to the field, became more like a hoop to jump through. &nbsp;A big, flaming hoop.<br /><br /><b>What do we do?</b><br /><br />So how do we reclaim our diss? How do we make the diss a scholarly foray into a real academic conversation, rather than a closed-course driving test? Is it about attitude? &nbsp;Maybe it's about our advisors and&nbsp;<i>their</i> attitude toward the project (Olson suggests as much). Maybe the answer is to think of the diss as something <i>in between</i> a first solo flight and a final flight simulation test. But the difference between those things is huge. The difference between those things can cost us a job. How do we describe our flying to a potential employer, if we don't even believe that we've ever really left the ground?<br /><br />Well, I don't really know yet. I'll tell you when I figure it out. But no matter how I feel about the result, you can bet I'm going to order one of those fifty dollar cloth-bound copies for my tiny office.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Work Cited</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Olson, Gary A., and Julie Drew. "(Re) Reeinvisioning Dissertation in English Studies." <i>College English, </i>61.1 (1998): 56-66.</div>NIUThesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12871328672457055024noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209936698291770445.post-68885712994579663562016-08-12T12:39:00.000-07:002016-11-22T11:47:08.534-08:00A Fond Hello from Your New Bloggers<span style="font-family: inherit;">Hello thesis and dissertation writers!</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Clare and Mike are onto bigger and better things (like finishing their dissertations), and they have passed the torch to us, another two dissertation writers from the NIU English Department.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">We will continue to maintain and grow this blog where you can turn to find helpful (and correct!) advice, current news, and even educative tales of personal struggle to help you through this seemingly never-ending stage of your career.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">So, to introduce ourselves...</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Hi, I'm Robyn</b></span><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ayud_Rlofao/V6zIyZO_-RI/AAAAAAAAAN8/SYIRKbWdAbs2MDdW6ZYV1ssV38Uye_3awCLcB/s1600/kendallcounty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ayud_Rlofao/V6zIyZO_-RI/AAAAAAAAAN8/SYIRKbWdAbs2MDdW6ZYV1ssV38Uye_3awCLcB/s320/kendallcounty.jpg" width="180" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b>My name is Robyn Byrd, and I am starting my fourth year of PhD-ing at NIU. &nbsp;I am just beginning the dissertation process this Fall. And I really mean "just beginning." I am working on my still-nebulous, still-too-broad prospectus, pulling together my committee, and going through all those early stage troubles of what it even means to write a thing like this! I study philology (like linguistics, but for written words), so I read funny dead languages like Old Norse. There will be Vikings in my dissertation. And beyond that...I have a long way to go.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">But since I work at the thesis office, I'll be okay. &nbsp;And so will you! I can help you with everything from big existential thesis questions to document formatting. I'm kind of an instant expert.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">My professional life outside the Thesis Office includes adjunct work at Aurora University, where I teach a lot of philosophy and a little bit of grammar since earning my master's degree at NIU in 2013.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">The fun stuff: At home I have two kids, a little girl and a semi-large boy, who love ponies and cars (guess which is which). &nbsp;I love bicycles and ride them far, I play music on the flute and sing in a rock band or two, and I thoroughly appreciate my boyfriend who puts up with me talking about inflectional morphology and Nietzschean aphorisms until 1 am.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br /><b>Hello there! &nbsp;I’m Fred</b><br /><br />I'm Fred Stark, the other new assistant in the Thesis and Dissertation Office. <br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OyYIVPf-xuU/V64fdm21vuI/AAAAAAAAAOY/sTbt1C519nw6qDUdaCrhqP4zWOm31TJqgCLcB/s1600/Blog%2Bheadshot%2Badjusted%2Band%2Bcropped.BMP" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OyYIVPf-xuU/V64fdm21vuI/AAAAAAAAAOY/sTbt1C519nw6qDUdaCrhqP4zWOm31TJqgCLcB/s200/Blog%2Bheadshot%2Badjusted%2Band%2Bcropped.BMP" width="181" /></a>I’m a PhD candidate in English at NIU, and throughout this academic year I’ll be working on completing my dissertation, which deals with representations of language and cultural contact in American maritime fiction between 1830 and 1915. To put that another way: I’m comparing characters and communicative situations in the early novels of Herman Melville to those in selected works of sea fiction by other authors from this period, up to and including major sea novels by Jack London. Not so many Vikings in my dissertation, but plenty of sea drifters, an assortment of whalers, and here and there a few pirates.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eY-frMcQOM0/V64g_eL7uSI/AAAAAAAAAOo/eGRYEdT23PwRzlWdeQGK75xA2k-XWqqxACLcB/s1600/Blog%2Bhighpoint%2Bsign%2Bcropped.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="127" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eY-frMcQOM0/V64g_eL7uSI/AAAAAAAAAOo/eGRYEdT23PwRzlWdeQGK75xA2k-XWqqxACLcB/s200/Blog%2Bhighpoint%2Bsign%2Bcropped.JPG" width="200" /></a>I come to all this after several years of English teaching, the last four in the First-Year Composition Program at NIU and, prior to that, a few universities overseas. When I’m not working on academic stuff, I try to enjoy the outdoors as much as I can. I’ve done a lot of hiking and trekking over the years, and since coming to NIU I have made it to several geographic high points in the Midwest, including the Illinois high point a bit east of Galena. No, I didn’t walk all the way there from DeKalb!<br /><br />This fall, in addition to assisting writers like you, I’ll be spending a fair amount of time in Founders Memorial Library. &nbsp;I’ll be completing some of my dissertation research in Rare Books and Special Collections, chasing down stories of high-seas adventure in its vast holdings of nineteenth-century dime novels. I’ll also be on the Fourth Floor every month for our grad-student-sponsored writing group, Write Place/Write Time.<br /><br />Be sure to check back in the coming weeks for more information on our writing group and other topics of interest. Happy writing! <br /><div><br /></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>NIUThesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12871328672457055024noreply@blogger.com1